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How to Handle Stress and Burnout for Freelancers & Home Business Owners - Learn How to Deal with Stress Before it Turns into Burnout
By Christy Tanner
One thing we all deal with on a daily basis is stress, and if we don't deal with it promptly you may also experience burnout. As a freelancer, your stress will come from clients, lack of time to meet deadlines, balancing family and work, as well as many other reasons. Every person in life at one time or another experiences stress in different ways, and everyone has a different way of coping with their stress. This article will help you figure out how to identify what type of tension or stress you are being exposed to, and how you can handle it in a more proper way. Not all stress is bad, in fact, it depends on what type of stress it is. Read on to find out how to identify and deal with stress and burnout as a freelance professional.
You should be able to identify the following:
What causes stress
Impact of negative stress on you
How positive stress helps
Methods to reduce your stress
What are the signs of burnout
How to prevent burnout
How to measure you level of stress
Firstly, we will go over the difference between positive and negative stress. Yes, believe it or not, there is such a thing as positive stress.
Each day we are exposed to life situations that will cause us to feel tension and alter our normal balance in life. This is called stress. To figure out if it's positive or negative stress, we will review a few examples. Lets say that in school you are given a project which you have to finish within three weeks. As the deadline date comes closer and closer, you start to feel more tension. Your stress level starts to rise, your blood pressure increases, and you might also lose some sleep. However, when you meet the deadline you become elated and happy. Positive stress is a perfect catalyst you can use to succeed. We get extra energy from positive stress, thus helping us to meet deadlines. But if you are in the middle of a project that is getting closer to the deadline, you probably would feel out of control and a negative stress will overcome you. This stress will cause such things as stomach problems, fatigue, loss of sleep, depression, headaches, and even chronic pain. Many times we are the true cause of negative stress and we need to learn how to handle our stress the right way.
The following are some of the hugest causes for stress in our life:
Long hours at work
You messed up a project
Moving or getting ready to move
Marriage and Family Troubles
Debt
Job Loss
Divorce
Death in the Family
Serious Illness or Injury in the Family
Behavior Problems with Your Children
Stomach Problems
Money problems
You or Spouse is Pregnant
Getting Married or New Relationship
Unhappiness in Current Job
New Baby
Death of Close Friend
Job Change
Spouse Infidelity
You can handle these stressors by talking to a friend, counselor, or anyone who you can trust to keep your secrets in confidence. This person will be able to:
Listen to you and maybe even share in past experiences
Lead you to the proper perspective of whatever situation you may be in
Help you find a solution to your problem
Help you think more clearly about your situation
Help you to remember that there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
Use stress for positive results in your life
Decide how you can control things, and that you can't control everything:
You must learn to work on what you can control, and put aside what you can not change
Remember you need to know when to pull back from the situation
Your perspective should be kept positive
Take up interest in other things that are completely different from what has caused your stress:
Help out other people with their problems
Take up hobbies, such as reading or knitting
Watch mindless tv shows and sitcoms on television
Join a club or a church group
Take up some sort of sport
Relax and laugh
Sleep and eat at regular times
Exercise, such as walking, or jogging
Start reading self-improvement books
Now we must keep from becoming burned out due to stress and emotional exhaustion. This will happen when a person continually misses goals, or expected rewards are not obtained at work. You can tell that you are becoming close to being burned out when you start to feel apathetic, irritable, and disappointed. Take this seriously. Don't just blow it off, don't over rationalize the situation. Make your expectation reasonable. Remember we can't all accomplish tons of things, in fact we need to ensure that we set our goals at a positive level. Reorganize goals to help lessen burn out. Change your routine and try different lunch times to change things up a bit. It could be this little change in your life that will become catalyst that helps you avoid a burn out. Try out new activities, be it cross stitch or some sport. Maybe change your career all together, this worked for me. Learn yourself inside and out, make sure you know exactly what makes you happy, and what makes you sad. In the same sense, get to know others as well. Learn to congratulate yourself for a well done job. Take up breathing exercises to learn how to relax. Another idea is to learn to take a long walk every day. Walking is very relaxing and will take the edge off the day. You might even lose some weight, which also lowers stress.
Keep a positive attitude, reduce stressors in your life, and you will be a happier freelancer, as well as a happier person in general. Good luck with your journey to a less-stressed life.
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