It is well documented that the age we live in carries a certain level of stress, the ability to manage the stress of day to day work is one that impacts every one of us.

Of course this is nothing new, we have always had stress, all creatures are used to stress and its not a bad thing, in the right doses. The clip of the antelope running away from the big cat is one we are all familiar with. The antelope definitely has a very good reason to be stressed, for its life is in danger! The key point is that it will not stay in this zone all of its day, it will be aware but will not constantly be stressed. Sure enough after 30 minutes (depending on the result!) it will be back grazing and seeming to be stress free.

Too much stress all of the time though will damage our mental wellness and could lead to further issues. We need to ensure we look after ourselves and manage this stress to get the best out of ourselves. For if we are our best version of ourselves, then it helps others.

Analogy of the car

I equate this to a car, a fan of all things moving, the way the car operates is similar. Our Rev counters indicate how much we are stressing the engine with a red line indicating that this is too much and to change gears. If we drive around in the red line, the engine will eventually go pop and cause physical damage to both the car and our wallet. Not a good result.

It’s easy if fuel was not a concern to charge around in a high rev state, we get better pick-up in speed, we are generally travelling faster and it can also sound better. If you absolutely had to get somewhere very quickly, you will go into this red-line

Now using the same analogy, a car while moving does not run very well if you go straight from 3rd gear to 6th while travelling at 30-40 mph, you could stall the car or make it go very sluggish and make it halt.

The key then with driving is to use the whole rev range at times when it is needed. When you are not moving, low revs make sense. When starting off, you will use higher revs and normal revs when moving along.

Mental Wellness as the Engine

Us like the car, also use this rev range. We need stress in our lives, its natural to have stresses. Without this stress we may never get that project done, we would not do the dishes or we may do activities without much thought, like driving a car.

What happens though is we can abuse this engine or our mental health. That deadline is looming, we dip into the red to get our blood levels pumping to produce the results. But then after that deadline, we have another deadline. We then need to rush somewhere else or make a phone-call. All the time this red-line needle is not moving back down, it’s staying high.

You can imagine that over time that this level of stress will impact our mental health and potentially in due course our physical health. We are simply not designed to stay in a high stress state for a long time, we need periods of downtime or just normal workload to recover.

Prioritise Yourself

None of this is rocket science, but it can be easily forgotten. Make sure you prioritise yourself and make time for yourself. It may be difficult, there is a lack of time, how can you do everything and then look after yourself.

• Evaluate what is causing you stress – Look at what you have causing the stress and see what you can do to ensure you remove these or manage these. Sometimes you can’t do everything, so get some help or simply say no
• Set aside time for you and your aims/goals – We all have jobs or things we need to get done and mostly for other people. But do not forget to move forward on those that are close to you and give you energy. This bit of time for you will make all the difference. This does not need to be your own work, this could be meditating or just doing some exercise
• Get rid of any guilt you have – Both sides this applies, don’t feel guilt for treating yourself important and don’t feel so much guilt for work you have for others. Communicate with others and you’ll be amazed, can’t make that deadline? Let them know in advance and you’ll probably find its fine to delay by a few days and maybe you’re trying to do to a standard you don’t need too

If something isn’t feeling right, you have the power to change it, recognise the need to change and then go and do it.