Too much stress at work

One standard mantra of many workplaces: out of every five employees, one works too much, the remaining four play it smart. Presenting, the case study of the hardworking one...

Is giving our lives to the workplace a great idea? And, what sort of impact does it have on our personal lives? Workaholics - those who smile only when they dream of work at night - are of the view that nothing else matters. A workaholic's personal life being his/her professional life, life goes on smoothly till the person falls ill or retires.

But there is this second kind, one that works incredibly hard because s/he is extremely sincere, but who could do with a break and generally do nothing or watch the TV. This is the kind that suffers, if s/he is unlucky enough to belong to a team or place where people have a habit of taking it easy. Such a person takes on responsibilities because that is the right thing to do; but, at the end of the day, feels completely stressed out.

What happens then?
For one, dreams intrude. But, unlike workaholics who enjoy such dreams, such visions are absolute nightmares. 'What will I do tomorrow?' 'Shall I be able to complete my colleague's work and mine?' 'Will I be able to meet the deadline?' Depressing thoughts that show how, for some unlucky people, workplace is synonymous with home for all practical purposes.

Two, fatigue. A burnout-like situation is not a great feeling at all. It starts with fatigue and, before you know, all kinds of feelings - right from tiredness to lack of desire to think to generally not feeling like going to work - can play the tormenting trespasser. Some people deal with it. Many cannot. Either way, getting trapped in such a situation is highly unnecessary.

Three, lifestyle diseases. Irregular eating, habits like smoking and drinking endless cups of tea and coffee, tend to enter our lives when we get used to maddening schedules. The fact is: we are the ones who invite the lifestyle diseases thereafter. And hence, we have no one else to blame.

Four, no time for one's own self. A little time to do things we want is important. When we tend to overwork, the desire to enjoy whatever little personal space we have flies out of the window. Not good at all, considering the fact that the little time we can enjoy can refresh and rejuvenate us.

Managing life at the workplace is a tricky affair: and more so, if we touch such levels of preoccupation that we carry the baggage back home. Workaholics are solely responsible for the consequences. But the other kind that looks for breathing space without getting it suffers even more, and much earlier. When we work, in other words, we need to understand the importance of time: and not only because deadlines need to be met.