Last Updated on: September 26, 2023
A new year should be a fresh start. A start to try something new, redo failed attempts, and live life to the fullest.
Unfortunately, 2018 did not start particularly well for me.
Over the past three months, I experienced the most stressful quarter of my life as far as I can remember. That includes my college years and when I was reviewing for the board exam.
I’ve been working for 3 years now, and never did I experience such stress.
I used to tell myself and others that most of the things that stress us out today would be irrelevant one year later. This may be true, but doubt starts to creep in as more troubles are placed upon my shoulders.
My college and working years may have been both stressful at times, but there is one significant difference… the end goal.
Missing an end goal.
When I was studying, I had a concrete goal of graduating on time, taking and passing the engineering board exam, and then working.
But after accomplishing those things, I realized that my personal goal no longer aligns with my current work.
I work to earn a living, be a responsible adult, and save a little. I stopped the dream of climbing up the corporate ladder and building a career.
The goal that I have now is to start a business in my home province, teach on the side, go back to school to take up a master’s or a law degree, and be a marathoner.
As more days and weeks passed, the stress I felt started manifesting in my physical health and body. I became sickly and white hairs began showing.
Sharing my burdens
One day, I met with my sister to talk. We had conversations about different topics, but the main point was always about work.
I started going on and on, ranting about how miserable my work life was and how I wanted to find another job.
I mentioned how difficult it is to learn a new skill while being pressured to complete it before the due date. How my foreign team leader keeps on micromanaging me, and how being alone in a project with no one to share my agony makes my job harder.
While talking, I remembered that she had also undergone the same amount of stress, if not more, from her job not just a year ago. She was also on the verge of quitting.
I recalled her stories about waking up in the morning, looking up at the ceiling, and asking herself if she had taken the right path.
But she just told me that she never wanted to look back and see herself as a quitter.
Then she told a story about her colleague and mentioned two things that changed my outlook a little. The first is to take your stress into perspective, and the second is to never underestimate the burden of others.
Related: The Wonderful Relationship of Shared Stress in the Workplace
Taking stress into perspective
Taking stress into perspective is looking into the bigger picture. We can never compare the world’s suffering relative to our own. Because if we do, we will see just how insignificant it is.
But there is a catch, looking at the large scale, our stresses will appear minuscule in comparison. But if two people are experiencing the same stimuli, the resulting stress may differ.
Different people have different ways of coping with stress, resulting in different outcomes. This means that problems may be the same, but our perceived stress may not be.
So we cannot just compare and disregard what seems to be an easy situation another person is experiencing just because we are not experiencing the same stress.
Final Thought
All of us have problems, and we can have a reason to be stressed. But we must always keep in mind that it will be over soon.
Always remember that God will never place us in a situation we cannot handle.
We need to put our faith in God.
