How to Deal With Microstress...

Vocab Review:

Mundane: not interesting or exciting; dull.

Example: His job at the Coca-Cola factory was very mundane, all he did was put bottles of Coke in boxes everyday.

Insignificant: Too small or unimportant to be worth caring about.

Example: John's complaints about the poor air conditioning in his office were insignificant compared to the company's financial problems.

To pile up: To accumulate in a large quantity.

Example: The dishes in the sink began to pile up after a week of not washing them.

To snowball: To increase in size or importance over time (almost the same as pile up).

Example: The students problems as school snowballed because he stopped doing his homework.

Intense: something that is extreme.

Example: She felt an intense amount of stress the hours before her final exam.

Seem (seemingly): To to appear to be a certain way, when the actual situation may or may not be different.

Example: The mountain seemed like it would be a fun, easy climb, but it was actually very difficult.

OR: Dave was working late last night, he seemed tired this morning.

OR: The seemingly angry old man was actually very nice.

Ironic: something that is not what is expected, and typically causes a wry amusement because of this.

Example: The marathon runner goes to McDonalds every morning for breakfast and eats ice cream every night.

Cope: To deal effectively with something difficult.

Example: After losing his job, he had to learn how to cope with the financial stress.

A contributor: Something that helps to cause a result.

Example: Lack of sleep was a major contributor to his poor performance at work.

To be exposed to something: To be in a situation where you are not protected from something harmful or unpleasant.

Example: Children who are exposed to constant loud noises may develop hearing problems later in life.

OR: If you are exposed to high levels of sun radiation, you can get a skin disease like skin cancer.

To be mindful: To think about and be aware of something.

Example: I try to be mindful of my eating habits when I'm stressed.

How to Deal With Microstress...

Everybody knows what stress is, it's stuff like losing a job, realizing you don’t have enough

money to pay your bills one month, or studying for your final exams when you don’t feel like you are going to pass. However, not everyone knows about microstress. Life is full of small, every day, mundane events that seem insignificant but are actually a serious source of stress.

Microstress, when gone unrecognized, piles up and snowballs until you are completely overwhelmed. Things like a coworker asking you for help when you already have too much work, or going to the kitchen to make coffee in the morning, but there is none left, or a friend calling you several times when you're busy trying to study is something that can causes an intense level of stress. The worst part is that because of its seemingly insignificant appearance, most people do not bother to cope with this microstress.

Microstressors are the stressful events that happen every day, but when someone asks you how your day was, you probably wouldn’t even think to mention them, either because you forgot, or they seem unimportant. What is ironic about this type of stress is that it often comes from our closest relationships (like friends and family), everyday interactions, and the modern expectation to be constantly available online.

The real danger of microstress is the impact it has on our lives when we overlook its impact on us. When something very stressful happens, you give yourself a chance to cope, you take a break from whatever you're doing and breathe and make an effort to relax, but with microstress, we don’t think to do things, we just carry on.

Overtime, this type of stress is often a leading contributor to burnout. Many people who have become burned out get upset because their life is not significantly more challenging than other's when you think about the bigger responsibilities they have. Although something that these people often fail to consider is the amount of microstress they are exposed to on an average day and the fact that they don’t put effort into coping with it.

To make matters worse, microstress is also a leading contributor to poor mental health and decreased productivity as well. Being constantly stressed out from texts, coworkers, and other small issues will surely leave you feeling anxious, tired, depressed and probably not as productive as you could be.

However, the good news is that once you are aware of what microstress is, it's very easy to cope with it and mitigate the effects.

The first and easiest step you should take is simply to be more mindful. Pay attention to the small moments of stress instead of trying to ignore them. Once you've begun identifying the microstress in your life, you need to have a coping method, even if its just stopping what you are doing and taking a couple deep breaths.

After you have identified your microstress, it's important to take action and work to remove those stressors from your life. Instead of getting upset and irritated when you realize you have no breakfast or coffee left in the morning, change your shopping routine. If you get irritated from phone calls and texts while you're at work, simply tell them that you are busy the first time they text or call and them mute your phone.

Questions:

1. Before reading this article, did you ever think about microstress or consider its effect?

2. What is the most common microstress in your life?

3. Have you ever felt close to burning out?

4. Can you think of example of big stressful situations you have faced in the last year? What about micro stressors you have recently faced?

5. How would you explain the concept of microstress to a friend who has never heard of it?

More Questions:

1. What do you like to do in your free time so that you feel refreshed and destressed for the next week?

2. Do you think it's important to have hobbies that are not related to your work?

3. Do you think you have a healthy work life balance or are you expected to always be available, even after working hours?

4. Does technology help us to be more relaxed or make us more stressed?

5. Some people have pet peeves, such as people clicking their pen or chewing gum loudly, or putting a drink back in the refreidgerator when there is only a very small amount left, do you have any pet peeves (these are small things people do that annoy you)?