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Is anyone out there stressed at work? Sybil, I know you are. And you’re not alone. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article the American Psychological Association states that One-third of employees experience chronic stress related to work. Women report higher levels of work stress than men, as well as an overwhelming since that they are under-appreciated and underpaid.

Fifty-four percent of the adults surveyed say they feel they are paid too little for their contributions, and 61% said their jobs don’t offer adequate opportunities to advance. Only half of the adults polled said they feel valued at work. Is that you?

The occupations that reported the highest rates of total cases of work-related stress were health professionals (in particular nurses), teaching and educational professionals, and caring personal services (in particular welfare and housing associate professionals).

The main work activities those surveyed said caused their work-related stress, or made it worse, was work pressure, lack of managerial support and work-related violence and bullying. No matter the occupation or activity we ALL have stress on the job.

F. John Rey, a management specialist provided me with five recommendations to reduce stress at the job.

1.  Improve your time management and organization skills.
Of the many things you can to in this area the best ones include getting a to do list that works, learning to say “no”, asking for help when you need it, and stop setting unrealistic goals for yourself.

2.  Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Realize that there are some things that just aren’t worth worrying about and there are some things you just can’t change. Don’t waste time stressing over the things or people in either category. So people don’t even deserve your energy.

3.  Get more sleep.
This is another of the things you can do to reduce your overall stress that will have benefits at the office as well. In addition to reducing your stress, it will increase your energy level and your ability to concentrate.

4.  Find a mentor
If not a mentor, a friend will do. Having someone to talk to can take a lot of stress off you. But they have to be a reasonable person. Crazy and Crazy doesn’t create calm.

5.  Spend more time with optimistic people.
Negative people will pull you down to their level. Choose to work or socialize with people who have a positive attitude instead of gossiping with those who eventually talk about YOU too.

But let me give you two more from me:

6.  Pray.  It works when you don’t have anything else. I would start and finish with this one.

7.  LEAVE: your stress is connected to you lack of obedience to step into that new industry, business or opportunity. You’re stressed because that job is not yours anymore. Just make sure you lock in the new space before you jump ship.

We don’t have to be stressed family. It takes years of your life and steals joy from your spirit. God called us to work hard, not to work us to death. Love you enough to kill the stress before it kills you.