Let’s face it, stress is the blight of our generation. Why?
- Are we weaker than our parents and grandparents? After all they managed to live through wars and didn’t seem to be in the state that so many of us are in today. True but perhaps it wasn’t that they were any tougher than us.
- Perhaps it’s modern diets and all the “artificial” and genetically modified ingredients in our food? It might be a contributing factor for some people but eating to the healthiest of regimes is alas unlikely to remove stress from your life.
- Perhaps work is tougher for us today than it was in previous generations? Again there might be a vestige of truth in this in that people tended to work closer to where they lived and organisations were less subject to frequent change, but let’s not forget that our forebears had to deal with considerable work place stress. It’s only a relatively modern phenomenon to have employee rights, fair pay councils and tribunals.
The simple facts are that for many people life was just as tough at work 50 years ago.
Some people are under stress for clearly identifiable reasons; a redundancy, bereavement, or ill health. Here the causes are obvious and to some extent the cures become easier to identify. This doesn’t make the effects any more pleasant only that this type of symptomatic stress has been with humanity forever. The problems are less easily pinpointed and the causes can have as much to do with direction, roles and clarity. Read the rest of this entry »
