Feature ~ Blog

For twenty years I have worked as an adult educator, career and employment specialist, training consultant, personal counsellor and life skills coach. And I have also been going to a gym during that time, working out three times a week to keep fit, eating a healthy diet and engaging in outdoor activities. I do this for work/life balance, to balance the scales of my stress budget. On one side is “deposits” on the other side is “withdrawals.”

I wasn’t always such a healthy person. In my younger years I was a hard-driving, ambitious, A-type personality. I started a professional theatre company in Montreal while in university; got published and produced as a playwright; produced and directed a feature film; wrote TV scripts; had an arts communications and marketing business. And I burnt myself out by the time I was thirty-three. 

Burnout is a state of emotional and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It’s important to recognize its early signs. With its roots in stress, you have a better chance of avoiding the loss of productivity and energy, hopelessness, powerlessness, cynicism and resentment that lead to burnout if you understand stress.  Over time, losing the interest or motivation that led you to take on a certain role in the first place can threaten your job, your relationships, and your health. My wake-up call came from my family doctor telling me I had symptoms of too much stress - high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a swollen liver. I heard the message loud and clear that I needed a lifestyle change, to slow down the career treadmill and get onto the running track.

In some of my teaching/training positions I facilitated workshops in stress management and other directly related subjects: time-management, goal-setting, dealing with difficult people, interpersonal communication, listening skills, change and transition. Stress is any everyday factor in everyone's life as we are continually forced to adapt and respond to our environment - people, situations and events around us.  Stress can be positive or negative and some stress is necessary for us to grow, to develop, and to be challenged.

First identified by Dr. Hans Selye, the term he used to describe the state when animals experience a dangerous amount of stress is the General Adaptation Syndrome, "the non-specific response of the body to any demand made upon it.”  A stressor is any demand that requires adjustment or adaptation, the normal response of our bodies to any change - either external like people, places, situations or internal, like thoughts and feelings.

Each of us responds to stress events differently according to our temperament, personal history and state of health. Our emotional reactions to those events or perceptions determine the impact of stress on us, as opposed to being the cause of our tensions. That old chestnut, “is the glass half empty or half full?” is an example of two different ways of perceiving. In physiological terms, stress gears us up for change by pumping adrenaline and cortisol into our system. In the process, muscles get tense, heart pounds, blood pressure rises. This is called the fight/flight/flow syndrome. When we experience threats or emergencies our bodies prepare us with the energy to stand and fight the enemy, run for cover, or just play dead like a possum.

If the hormonal outputs such as cortisol accompanying stress build up when we are overloaded with stress, the endocrine and the immune systems are over-taxed. And studies show an increased vulnerability to illness as a result.

Stress is natural and good for us. It makes us feel alive, happy, healthy, and creative. We gear up for a tough job or life event and then we relax and let life go on.  This is positive stress. What is unnatural is not to return to a relaxed state. If we don't relax once the challenge has been met we experience negative stress. We stay geared up as though all of life was a case of life and death, causing chronic stress that leads to burnout.

Stress hits on three levels: Emotionally - irritability, impatience, overly-sensitive, anxious; Behaviourally - repetitive thoughts, compulsive eating, abuse of alcohol, coffee and other drugs; Physically - headaches, neck pains, insomnia, loss of appetite, chronic fatigue.
 
It is essential to balance negative stress with positives. Regular exercise is one of the best ways to counter the negative effects of stress. Other stress management techniques include listening to relaxing music, massage, Tai Chi, Yoga, and various forms of meditation.


Jack Cunningham has returned to theatre. He performed his one-person show Jassy’s Sassy Cabaret in Toronto Fringe 2006. Jack has a Diploma in Counselling; Certifications in Adult Education, Training, Life Skills Coaching, Psychological Testing, and Personal Training. He created Desk Gym, a stress management tool to “Get Fit Where You Sit”. For more information about stress check out his website http://www.deskgym.com