The Hardest Thing About Dis-Stress

Stress is one of the biggest problems of our workforce today.

It has gotten to the regular point of Burnout, or extreme Dis-Stress.

Do you want to know what makes this topic even harder though?

Dis-Stress isn't actually "one" thing.

Stress itself is both a Psychological phenomenon and a Physiological phenomenon.

Most of the time, we only focus on the Psychological aspect.

However, failing to understand both parts can make all of your efforts as a Leader painful.

From the Psychological perspective, we know that there are certain things that cause Stress in our lives.

Some of these are fairly common and most people experience them- being overworked, getting cut-off in traffic, even just being hungry.

However, over time we also develop our own personal sets of Psychological stressors that are by-products of our pasts.

This can come up as things like phobias, or certain characteristics that really make certain individuals angry.

For certain people, this can also come up as trauma.

What may seem like nothing to one individual may be traumatic in another.

Much of this has to do with our pasts, and exist whether we acknowledge them or not.

The other side of this coin is that Stress is also Physiological.

All Stress causes some level of Oxidative Stress, requires Energy (Mg-ATP) to repair from that Oxidative Stress, and also requires other building blocks like Minerals.

When our bodies have lower levels of Oxidative Stress, and higher levels of Energy and building blocks, we can handle higher levels of Stress.

However, when we have high levels of Oxidative Stress, Low Energy, and are low on building blocks, we may not be able to hand any levels of Stress as we are already in Dis-Stress.

The combination of these two aspects makes Stress Impact a moving scale with many variables that influence it.

As Leaders, we may be blind to how much one action can impact someone else simply because it hits a traumatic spot for them.

I know I have failed in that aspect many times in my life, even recently.

Also, what seemed to have been fine yesterday could end up breaking someone today because they have not had time to Recover.

Simply, their Oxidative Stress hasn't healed, or they haven't gotten enough new Energy, or are missing essential building blocks.

Suddenly "Business As Normal" has led to a complete revolt!

What seemed like something harmless could turn you into someone's villain.

What you consider "acceptable" could be a "non-negotiable" for others.

This makes human behavior extremely difficult to follow and understand at times, even for those with the highest of EQs.

It is inevitable as human beings that we will mess up somewhere as we miscalculate or fail to understand how others will be impacted.

I do a lot of in-depth research in this field, am a Certified Behavioral Consultant, and have a deep understanding of Dis-Stress.

Yet I still make errors and completely miss the mark at times.

So, what are we to do given these moving benchmarks?

The best we can.

If we fall, we must get back up.

If we offend, we must make right.

If we find we are flawed (as we all are), we must work to improve

Even today I find myself flawed and must work on myself.

The journey of a Leader is never over.

We will triumph, and we will blunder.

It may not be purposeful, and it may not seem like a big deal, but that misses the point.

Even if not purposeful, it has impact.

Though it may not seem like a big deal to you, it could be everything to others.

As a Leader, it is our responsibility to take responsibility for our actions.

Further, it is our responsibility to further make the environment around us better for all those we Lead, all those who are in our care.

Failing to do this is failing to truly Lead.

Knowing that the events around us are all moving pieces that exist on moving scales that we often have little control over can feel unfair.

However, that is a part of the call of being a Leader - understanding these realities and doing whatever is in our power to improve.