Trying to reduce work stress.
I have requested a change in my working hours so that I work less days for slightly longer hours. Then I will have a 3 day weekend. I am really seeing how much the frantic schedule at work affects my eating. Yesterday I packed a healthy salad and my snack so I wouldn’t be tempted.
The day went haywire as soon as I got there ,with urgent/ crisis stuff sideswiping my plans completely. It was 3.45pm before I could even stop to think about lunch and I felt so flat, had only 15 mins till I had to attend a meeting and so I went for the packet of chips again. I will do better today I hope. Hopefully these changes of working less days will help me to get a bit more time to myself on the weekend. I really love my job , but I need to be realistic about the way it is affecting my health at the minute and change what I can.
I know I need to reduce stress to be able to get healthy. And thanks to all you great buddies out there ! Your support and reading other stories really has helped me and made it possible for me to stick to my plans. Maybe not perfectly, but for the first time in a long time I feel like I can really do this, and that I will see it through to my goal and to maintenance, however long that takes. Thanks
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So glad you are feeling like you can do this. Isn’t that great when it happens? I LOVE that! Good luck with your schedule - that’s sounds really smart about packing lunch and snacks, now if you can get the stress and crisis thing calmed down, eh? Best!
Okay, could I make a little suggestion here? This is something that me and my husband have discussed over and over and over again until I’m blue in the face. Maybe you will try it.
My husband and I work at the same firm. It’s very hectic here also, even more pressurized on him than me, but I think that’s because I stand my ground. I’m hard headed that way. LOL He will rush and push himself so hard and NOT stop long enough to fuel his body with good nutrition, but can make I don’t know how many trips back and forth to the coffee pot for some “instant” energy that he thinks he needs. For that many trips, he could have eaten a healthy meal. Then he wonders WHY by mid-afternoon he is shaking and has a headache and his stomach is in knots. I’ve tried time and time again to get him to eat breakfast, STOP for at least 15 minutes at lunch and eat. I’ve offered to prepare his stuff FOR him in advance and all he has to do is go to the fridge (right by the coffee pot), dump it on a plate, and eat it. For several days, I DID prepare, but then found myself babysitting him and making his plate and taking it to him. Now I love the man, but he has to help himself some too. The days that I did that though, he never ONCE complained of feeling ill or stressed or anything. He got through his stressful day and even made MORE headway in his work than ever before… all because he fueled his body with the nutrition he needed.
So my question to you is, doesn’t it make sense to TAKE the time to fuel your body for the stressful work that needs to get done instead of waiting until you almost drop from exhaustion and then try to fuel it with empty calories that only stave off the hunger for say… 30 minutes? I would really like you to give this some thought.
Big HUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGS,
Shan
I understand things getting so crazy you don’t have time to eat but take time even if it is just for a few minutes and eat healthy.
I like your idea of the 3 day weekend. I wish I had that option.
Keep strong and have a great day!
You can eat fruit, cheese or yogurt as quick as you can eat chips. I only get a half hour lunch and when it’s busy , that is often interrupted. On Sundays I have no one to cover while I eat, so I take grapes and apples with me to snack on when I can. You just have to plan ahead and decide you will make the healthy choice and leave those chips. They ARE making you feel worse!
I too changed my hours at work to have more time for myself and family. We sacrifice some things , but it is so much healthier for my family and myself. I now work 5 days one week and 4 days the next week all winter. Hope the changes you made take some of the pressure off. Good Luck!
I have been sensing from your blogs the high levels of stress at your job. I work a stressful job too and I don’t know how I cope either, but judging from your blogs, it seems like my job is a walk in the park compared to yours. All I can tell you is to find a happy medium between work and play! Good luck. I’m sorry I don’t have any good advice to give!
thanks guys, the problem is that a lot of what I do is crisis work, so often it really is not possible to stop even for 15 minutes to grab something to eat.
it’s a bit hard to explain in detail but it’s the nature of the job, I have my regular (very busy!) work booked all day but then I deal with whatever crisis occur and they can very serious ones.
It happens pretty regularly and they are not situations that I can leave or handover to another person until I have made sure the person is safe.
Now I am carrying around nuts, seeds and cheeseticks in my bag which does help me avoid the vending machine