Encouraging my coworkers to vent their frustrations helps in most cases. Personally I wish we had a meeting once a week for nothing but clearing the air and expressing frustrations with each other and the students.
I take my frustrations straight to the director or assistant director and bypass everyone else because when I get upset about something it usually has to do with a corporate or administrative problem.
I have a stress ball on my desk which really helps after having a frustrating experience with a difficult student or coworker. And it helps with muscle tone as well.
I handle workplace stress by stepped away from a few minutes and trying to look at it from a different perspective. I found that stay positive helps on most of the situation. Exercise is also a good way to help on shifting the focus to something else for a while.
One of the stresses I have at work is a negative coworker. I draw my energy and excitement from my work environment. Most of my coworkers face the day with a positive attitude and then there is this one. I know that venting can offer relief by allowing you to unburden your problem, but constant complaints are just draining. I finally just had to distant myself from her.
I have definitely vented about some things that have stressed me out at work to a sympathetic ear and that does help. Speaking up at a meeting or conversation with a manager to ask about a less stressful way of dealing with the problems/issues you may be having has helped me also.
Being a person with asma breathing properly is avery important part of health so there fore handling workplace stress is part of a healthy life when in a stressful situtation relax breath take a brisk walk and eat healthy and drink plenty o water. This does not eliminate all stress but helps.
Like Debra, I also handle workplace stress by stopping to look at the situation, stepping back from it and asking myself just how important is the issue stressing me and by trying to inject humor into the day. I often get funny emails/videos from a number of friends and regularly try to share them w/collegues that I know are also stressed and will appreciate the "laugh for the day".
To help deal with work stress, I breath a lot. I also exercise and that also helps me a lot. When I eat poorly, I get a little groggy sometimes but eating healthy makes a huge difference in someone’s attitude. Exercising, breathing, eating healthy helps me a lot.
I generally handle workplace stress by taking deep breathes, meditation and going for a walk. When my co-workers are stressed I generally make positive conversation and try to make my co-worker feel better.
Debra,
I to find it is beneficial to step away from the problem and refocus. If I don't negative thoughts tend to repeat themselves until my worry becomes toxic. Finding a co-worker that I trust and admire and voicing my concern with her really helps also.
The easiest thing for me to do in dealing with workplace stress is to find the humor in the situation.
Stepping away for a few minutes and looking at it from a different perspective and the humorous side of it helps me relax, and come back to the problem refreshed and ready to take it on!
I personally stepped away from my desk and went to interact with students in the classroom. This enabled me to connect with my students and their instructor. I was able to laugh and re-evaluate the problem that caused the stress in the first place. It gave me a break and I was able to breathe and relax which re-energized me.
