Stress Busters: Tips for Dealing with the Stress of Leadership

Stress Busters: Tips for Dealing with the Stress of Leadership
Podcast Journal Entry – Week 8

This podcast lists eight suggestions that could be effective in helping a leader manage stress.   They are as follows:
No 1: Recognize the signals of stress.
No. 2: Create a ritual.
No 3: Get away.
No 4: Exercise regularly.
No 5: Develop a support system.
No 6: Relieve stress by re-grouping on the task.
No 7: Take time to recover.
No 8: Re-define balance.

Stress management is something that I really need to work on.   I am presently under extreme stress.   I work full time, attend online classes, and just became guardian of my mother in which I just placed her in a nursing home.   I have to keep close eye on her care.   With this additional stress, I have noticed heaviness in my chest, shaking inside, and tense muscles especially in my neck and upper back.   I just started trying deep breathing doing 10 repetitions so I am trying a new ritual.   It does not seem to be helping thus far.   Getting away is a problem for me.   When I go home, I have classes to attend and deal with guardianship issues.   When you have stress at work and at home, there is a real problem in getting away from it.   I would love to exercise and think I need to make the effort to work it in my weekly schedule if possible.   There does not seem to be enough time in the day for me to recover, but I know it is important to work on that.   The added guardianship responsibility has knocked my stress management process off balance and I need to work harder at getting it back into a balance that I can live with.   These suggestions have given me ideas of other possible ways to deal with my stress and I hope they can give me the help I need.