Going bald from tearing out your hair? Denting your desk from repeated head banging? If so, today’s the day for you. Yes, from the same people that brought you all those other wacky ‘special’ days, it’s International Stress Awareness Day.
The official slogan, “Stress – don’t let it get to you!”, actually stresses me out a bit… not sure who chose a command with an exclamation point as a rallying cry for relaxation. Plus there’s the choice of date - the day after we’re freaked out by ghosts and ghouls, and have massive post-Halloween sugar hangovers. Now, one thing most workers are in desperate need of is stress relief. In fact, according to surveys it’s the biggest problem facing UK companies. From the surveys, 76% said that excessive workloads were the main cause of workplace stress, while others blamed job cuts (57%), rapid change (53%), long work hours (34%) and office bullying (33%). The International Stress Management Association has even mathematically defined what stress is… in case you didn’t know, Stress = Pressure - Adaptability, or S = P – A. Or, if you’re cramming for an exam, try my handy mnemonic, Stress = Pissed off - Anger management. (For a full treatise on the ‘Law of Stress’, go here.)
