4. TOUGHEN UP
THE DIAGNOSIS
Stan Murray considers himself a resilient man, someone who’s ostensibly found the perfect work-life balance. But Murray, who founded Resilience Canada, is two weeks into his new gig as the director of Healthy Workplace Programs at the National Quality Institute, an independent, not-for-profit outfit that creates and monitors healthy workplace criteria for Canadian corporations. If there were a time when Murray needed to practise what he preaches, it’s now. “It was hard for our family. Our schedules changed, and now I’m away more often. But I’ve taught myself how to excel in these stressful situations,” he says.
THE SCIENCE
Avoiding something called the amygdala hijack is the key. The amygdala, responsible for regulating emotional reactions, is the part of your mind that you override during chair-tossing moments. Under intense stress, this inch-long almond-shaped mass inside the brain’s medial temporal lobe becomes overloaded. Case in point: Bruce Banner becomes the Hulk when his amygdala is under attack.
THE TREATMENT
“When you understand yourself, your relationships at work and home become easier to manage,” Murray says. “We can use emotions to influence others and to gain position.” The first step to resilience is to identify your driving forces –those emotions that make you happy and productive in your professional and personal lives.
The next step is to create a coping strategy. “You can’t focus and change unless you’re positive and relatively stress-free. You have to be in the zone, like an athlete,” Murrays says. If you have a conflict with a colleague, talk with them directly to achieve a solution. Bring in your manager if necessary. Stop being an office-place enabler if it makes you angry. (Don’t be that guy who is always doing everyone else’s dishes in the kitchen). If you need help coping with stress, ask for it. Private insurance programs often cover services such as counselling, acupuncture and even massage therapy. Or contact government organizations such as the Alberta Mental Health Board, which publishes a Minding the Workplace booklet. Look for details and resources at amhb.ab.ca . U
Category: Work
