In a Nutshell - Stress Management

Ps 4: 1, Ps 118: 5, 2Corinthians 12: 7-10 The way society is evolving and the speed and degree of change has raised the acceptable barrier in every field of human endeavour and that makes every existing organisation run the risk of extinction if these new standards are not met. This creates tremendous pressure on these organisations to succeed and on an individual basis it translates into work-related stress. If these companies fail (saying for instance that failure is the inability to cope with stress) because they cannot cope with stress or if you as an individual cannot cope with it. Then the organisation folds up or the person loses their job, you must remember that unemployment and failure has its own attendant stress which could probably be greater (poverty sets in, loss of a healthy family life, dislocation from society etc). Assuming that you want to have a successful and enjoyable career that keeps you pleasantly stretched and interested. Perhaps, you would like to lead part of or your entire organisation. Maybe you want to achieve personal and professional recognition or you just want to make a difference in the world in some way. Unfortunately, part of the price of success is coping with the pressure of disagreeable events, like you must learn to cope with the demands and pressures of your organisation as it struggles to change, survive and thrive in this fast changing world. The church is also a part of this process and cannot be exempted in the scheme of things. The purpose of this message is to help you perform successfully and happily under the pressure that inevitably comes with a successful career. This would help you manage and adapt to the stresses you face, while helping you to build buffers against stress that will enable you to enjoy even the most challenging jobs. It should introduce you to many of the more important habits and routines that will help you to enjoy your career whilst under pressure. We’ll look at the following in the course of this message: 1. Thriving in and enjoying challenging jobs. 2. Understanding the things that can go wrong so that you can fix them. 3. Working with powerful people to your mutual advantage. 4. Avoiding people who increase stress levels by making constant withdrawals on your emotional bank account. 5. Changing your environment to eliminate accumulations of small irritations. 6. Understanding negative thoughts and emotions and replacing them with positive ones. 7. Building the social support networks and buffers against stress that will help you cope with situations you cannot manage. Definition of stress. ============== Stress is defined as a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that ‘demands exceed personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilise.’ This means that people feel little or no stress when they have the time, experience and resources to handle a situation. On the other hand they feel great stress when they do not see themselves as having the ability to handle these demands. Stress is therefore a negative experience under these circumstances. The demands and pressure is not necessarily ‘negative’ but your response to it is what determines whether it’s defined as such. Stress is therefore not the pressure that people place on you but your emotional response to it. It is not an inevitable consequence of an event but depends a great deal on the individual’s perception of a situation and their ability to cope with it. Case study 1: David, Goliath and the Nation of Israel. =================================== Goliath made a demand that put the rest of Israel under stress as they perceived that they did not have the personal or social resources to mobilise at their will David, on the other hand responded and was promoted. In your career some people are getting stressed out with negative energy while others are getting promoted. It’s a question of perception some are asking for a removal of the demands and pressure whilst others enjoy it, thrive and get rapid promotion. Case study 2: Daniel and Nebudchadnezzar’s dream =================================== The demand was made Daniel responded, drawing on supernatural resources made available by God (grace) while the others folded up and perished. Promotion and upward mobility is not magical or mystical it is not from the south, east or west but a direct consequence of your response to pressure. If a demand is placed on an alto singer to sing at the pitch of a soprano the individual perceives stress because they don’t think the ability to do that is available to them. Paul was first under stress then grace, he first prayed for the removal of the pressure but later learnt that the pressure when rightly handled produces high performance. Many are praying that God should remove the over bearing boss at work, reduce the constant pressure they experience daily etc. This is not the scriptural way of dealing with pressure. We live in a rapidly changing urban society and global economy that will make a series of demands upon you which you might think you are not qualified and lack the skills for, so you respond with stress. You must realise that this is the world we live in today and if you’re going to move forward you must learn to respond correctly. Case study 3: The nation of Israel and the Promised Land. ===================================== The ten spies with an evil report returned stressed out. The two spies returned with a consciousness of having the ability and resources available to meet the demand that was made. They knew they could mobilise the required resources and take possession of the land that had been promised to them by God. Ministry could be termed as a place of ‘refuge’ but in today’s world the demands are also at their highest. People have experienced service and ministry delivered at such high levels that they now expect it as the norm anything else is totally unacceptable. To a fresh entrant into the world of ministry the demand and pressures are far more today than what obtained in the early 90s. Types of Stress response. ====================== There are two types of instinctive responses that are important to our understanding of stress and its management. The short term response is the ‘fight or flight’ response. The long term is the ‘general adaptation syndrome.’ The short term reply is a basic survival instinct, whilst the second is the long-term effect of exposure to stress. The ‘Fight or Flight’ response. ==================== When an organism experiences shock or perceives a threat, it quickly releases hormones that will help it to respond to that immediate threat and thus survive. In humans these hormones help us to run faster or fight harder they operate as performance enhancers. They increase heart rate and blood pressure thereby delivering more oxygen and blood sugar to power important muscles. They increase sweating in an effort to cool these muscles and help them stay efficient etc. In this state we are excitable, anxious, jumpy and irritable. In addition, these hormones focus our attention on the threat, to the exclusion of all else (this is a major problem). All these significantly improve our ability to survive life-threatening events. Unfortunately, this mobilisation of the body for survival has negative consequences it actually reduces our ability to work effectively with other people. With a pounding heart and trembling we can find it difficult to execute precise and controlled skills. The intensity of our focus on the problem and survival interferes with our ability to make fine judgement. It is easy to think that this fight/flight or adrenaline induced response is only triggered by obviously life-threatening danger we must reconsider because recent research shows that we experience the fight/flight syndrome when we encounter the unexpected. The situation does not have to be dramatic due to a constant release of these hormones it has a negative effect on our health and behavioural patterns. It makes some drink, smoke or use drugs as a way of getting immediate chemical relief. It has also been discovered to undermine our overall immune system and makes people more prone to infection. Medically speaking a merry heart and laughter have been found scientifically to act as buffers by releasing hormones into the body that neutralises the negative effect of the high performance hormones released in times of stress. Joy and thanksgiving have been discovered to make the body release hormones that are natural pain relievers. Joy releases powerful hormones that lower the blood pressure. Medical information shows the healing power of praise. Whenever you’re in a stressed state about the condition of your life learn to focus on the good things going on and be grateful for it and find joy in that.

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