Dealing With Business Stress

A reader writes: “I admit to being a high stress person, which has paid off as far as productivity; however I just got diagnosed with high blood pressure (32 years old), overweight and pre-diabetic. My doctor has advised me to find another profession that is less stressful. How do you cope?”

First of all, I would never attempt to counteract your physician’s advice so I am going to share lessons I have learned that may or may not apply to your particular situation.

First of all, I have been a Type A personality my whole life, which means that I not only have stress but seem to be a carrier as well. (Just a joke). Although I have been involved in custodial related work most of my adult life which included owning my own business (or did it own me?), I have always had this compelling sense of urgency to get the work done so I could go to the next challenge. I seldom was satisfied with the work since I always felt that it could have been better. I was always very sensitive to criticism from others even though I knew it might not have been valid based on all the facts.

I, too, was diagnosed with many of the same symptoms you have at about the same age. My waist went from 32 to 40 overnight (or so it seemed). My physician described the condition as “metabolic syndrome,” which included being pre-diabetic. I would stress eat at night and knew every fast food joint in a 50 mile radius. I always found something more important than taking time to walk, relax or exercise until one day I found myself consuming all kinds of meds for all kinds of conditions. When I groused about the meds, my physician challenged me to lose 30-40 pounds and he would reduce or take me off most of the medications. I will share the results of that challenge in a future article.

Your comments and questions are important. I hope to hear from you soon. Until then, keep it clean...

Mickey Crowe has been involved in the industry for over 35 years. He is a trainer, speaker and consultant. You can reach Mickey at 678-314-2171 or CTCG50@comcast.net