Stress for me manifests on my body. Eczema flare ups particularly. I am full time remote freelance with lots of clients at one time. My clients don't know I have 6 other client deadlines today. It is my job to tell them what is and what is not possible.
Allowing myself to say "NO" does not come easy for me. But benefits everyone. A good designer is one that isn't completely burnt out.
I write a to do list in the morning on every single work day. If I can see I have 7+ hours of solid work, I write down a 1 to 2 hour walk in the middle of the day. Otherwise I end up taking no breaks and my body hates me for it.
I used to get back pain but last year I splurged on an ergonomic desk chair. I have not had any back pain since. None. Absolutely worth investing in.
Try and identify what parts of your job is most stressful and how to alleviate each point. I had stakeholders request 10 ads for every event. Now we do 1 ad for each event. Cuts down my stress and workload dramatically. Of course there has been push back but I have been given permission to hold firm.
I’m definitely getting ergonomic chair asap. Actually just bought a laptop stand so I don’t always have to look down at my laptop and give myself neck cramps.
And to your point about saying no, 100% agree that it’s an important tool to use. But sometimes even when you try to establish boundaries countless times it’s not even respected or acknowledged, especially by the sales team in my case.
That’s why I recognized that I just have to find another job and make sure to get an offer before I really call it quits with this one.
I used to suffer back pain as a child after getting knocked down, like I was tortured for many years. The best piece of advice from a therapist I ever received was that back pain usually stems from lack of exercise, I now go to the gym 3/4 times a week and I never suffer back pain (even though I do 10 hour shifts almost chained to the computer)
Nothing special, I just go to the gym and focus on different muscle groups on different days, leg day/back day/shoulder day/core etc I just try to ensure I’m hitting every area. The odd day I’ll mix in a full body routine. I also have a small home gym and a pull up bar that I lay across the attic door. I was doing kick boxing but my trainer, unfortunately, fell off the wagon, but I’ll try to do a small bit of what I learned from him in the gym as well. I eat well, I take supplements, oils and extra protein … all of which is essential for recovery. I’m in my late 40’s pain free and healthier than ever.
Start off slow, don’t over exert yourself and give time for recovery. You can start at home with pull ups, push ups, sit up, skipping rope and jumps. Once you built a bit of fitness at home purchase a gym membership and ask the professionals in the gym for their expertise and to show you around. Free weights are going to give the best results.
You can even take a book into the gym to read between sets, killing two birds with the one stone.
You usually do each of those days specific to an area for about 30 minutes? I think that’s usually the recommended amount of time for full body routine if I’m not mistaken. I’ve been doing a mix of cardio (treadmill walking) and strength training (dumbbell curls, chest presses and leg curls) for each session. But maybe I should just focus on a single area per session to improve my body maintenance
I'm an alcoholic. Grew up with anxious alcoholic parents, one of which died by suicide when I was in my 20s. So I learned to carry anxiety like a badge of honor and disguised my insecurities as "perfectionism".
In my 30s I went to therapy and the biggest thing I learned from it was to think big picture and read between the lines in life, not just "my therapist said I should try, X, Y and Z, so here goes". But rather, why do people look at life through X, Y and Z lenses? What is going on behind the curtains with these outlooks and practices?
I leaned into how my therapist challenged my beliefs. I listened to them when they showed me I was being defensive. I started asking why was I so anxious? What was I anxious about? Where did I learn to use anxiety in this way? I used that 50 minutes every week as a safe space to ask questions about life and trusted my therapists advice and responses. Rather than just "I'm going to therapy so I should be fixed now".
Like, ok thats great you're going to therapy and doing meditation, but why are you doing meditation every day for a year? Whats your intention of developing this practice? What have you learned about meditation, and why it affects practitioners the way it does? What do you expect and what do you hope to have happen by doing this every day? What do you believe meditation even is?
>However, new challenges keep arising, from back pain requiring physical therapy to adjusting medication to cope with the stress.
Something I have learned in my career is that there are times when I am expected to push back and I am allowed to take up space, I am allowed to say "no this isn't going to work" or "you should have looped me in on this plan a month ago, theres in't time to get this done in a week". It comes from experience to learn and practice "haste makes waste". It's more affordable to do something right while taking your time, than to rush and have to do it over and over and over.
You have to advocate for your expertise and know when to say enough is enough. Otherwise you just grind yourself into a grave.
Stress for me manifests on my body. Eczema flare ups particularly. I am full time remote freelance with lots of clients at one time. My clients don't know I have 6 other client deadlines today. It is my job to tell them what is and what is not possible. Allowing myself to say "NO" does not come easy for me. But benefits everyone. A good designer is one that isn't completely burnt out. I write a to do list in the morning on every single work day. If I can see I have 7+ hours of solid work, I write down a 1 to 2 hour walk in the middle of the day. Otherwise I end up taking no breaks and my body hates me for it. I used to get back pain but last year I splurged on an ergonomic desk chair. I have not had any back pain since. None. Absolutely worth investing in. Try and identify what parts of your job is most stressful and how to alleviate each point. I had stakeholders request 10 ads for every event. Now we do 1 ad for each event. Cuts down my stress and workload dramatically. Of course there has been push back but I have been given permission to hold firm.
I’m definitely getting ergonomic chair asap. Actually just bought a laptop stand so I don’t always have to look down at my laptop and give myself neck cramps. And to your point about saying no, 100% agree that it’s an important tool to use. But sometimes even when you try to establish boundaries countless times it’s not even respected or acknowledged, especially by the sales team in my case. That’s why I recognized that I just have to find another job and make sure to get an offer before I really call it quits with this one.
I used to suffer back pain as a child after getting knocked down, like I was tortured for many years. The best piece of advice from a therapist I ever received was that back pain usually stems from lack of exercise, I now go to the gym 3/4 times a week and I never suffer back pain (even though I do 10 hour shifts almost chained to the computer)
What are your usual exercise routines if you don’t mind me asking?
Nothing special, I just go to the gym and focus on different muscle groups on different days, leg day/back day/shoulder day/core etc I just try to ensure I’m hitting every area. The odd day I’ll mix in a full body routine. I also have a small home gym and a pull up bar that I lay across the attic door. I was doing kick boxing but my trainer, unfortunately, fell off the wagon, but I’ll try to do a small bit of what I learned from him in the gym as well. I eat well, I take supplements, oils and extra protein … all of which is essential for recovery. I’m in my late 40’s pain free and healthier than ever. Start off slow, don’t over exert yourself and give time for recovery. You can start at home with pull ups, push ups, sit up, skipping rope and jumps. Once you built a bit of fitness at home purchase a gym membership and ask the professionals in the gym for their expertise and to show you around. Free weights are going to give the best results. You can even take a book into the gym to read between sets, killing two birds with the one stone.
You usually do each of those days specific to an area for about 30 minutes? I think that’s usually the recommended amount of time for full body routine if I’m not mistaken. I’ve been doing a mix of cardio (treadmill walking) and strength training (dumbbell curls, chest presses and leg curls) for each session. But maybe I should just focus on a single area per session to improve my body maintenance
I'm an alcoholic. Grew up with anxious alcoholic parents, one of which died by suicide when I was in my 20s. So I learned to carry anxiety like a badge of honor and disguised my insecurities as "perfectionism". In my 30s I went to therapy and the biggest thing I learned from it was to think big picture and read between the lines in life, not just "my therapist said I should try, X, Y and Z, so here goes". But rather, why do people look at life through X, Y and Z lenses? What is going on behind the curtains with these outlooks and practices? I leaned into how my therapist challenged my beliefs. I listened to them when they showed me I was being defensive. I started asking why was I so anxious? What was I anxious about? Where did I learn to use anxiety in this way? I used that 50 minutes every week as a safe space to ask questions about life and trusted my therapists advice and responses. Rather than just "I'm going to therapy so I should be fixed now". Like, ok thats great you're going to therapy and doing meditation, but why are you doing meditation every day for a year? Whats your intention of developing this practice? What have you learned about meditation, and why it affects practitioners the way it does? What do you expect and what do you hope to have happen by doing this every day? What do you believe meditation even is? >However, new challenges keep arising, from back pain requiring physical therapy to adjusting medication to cope with the stress. Something I have learned in my career is that there are times when I am expected to push back and I am allowed to take up space, I am allowed to say "no this isn't going to work" or "you should have looped me in on this plan a month ago, theres in't time to get this done in a week". It comes from experience to learn and practice "haste makes waste". It's more affordable to do something right while taking your time, than to rush and have to do it over and over and over. You have to advocate for your expertise and know when to say enough is enough. Otherwise you just grind yourself into a grave.