STRESS MANAGEMENT—IT IS THE ATTITUDE AND PREPAREDNESS

Dr. Albert Ellis, an American psychologist who in 1955 developed rational emotive Behaviour therapy stated that:

“People and things do not upset us, rather we upset ourselves by believing that they can upset us”

Yes this is one reason which leads us to stress. Different situations which they face for survival by each human being in their lives are to be managed. Here comes one’s attitude and beliefs, these two things determine how one behaves. This may be influenced by internal thinking, external circumstances which lead to management by self to survive different situations as mentioned above.

As we know the body is gifted to serve others. Here different situations are faced by the body (which includes internal self and systems) to survive the demand made on it. Body responds to the increase in demand by more physical, mental and chemical variations in it. This change affects the attitude and behaviour. This influence is by the nervous system which allows the human beings to think—the pressure is generated through increased demand which produces stress hormones by pituitary and adrenal glands regrouping the body to face the demand.

Richard S Lazarus, a renowned psychologist of 20^th century stated that stress as a result from an imbalance between demands and resources.

If we think from the angle of a service provider or a manager—he has to face agitated customers, shortage of staff /resources, his authorities for not reaching the allotted targets even after putting in his best efforts etc etc. he cannot explode nor express his emotions and therefore the stress situations keep on repeating day by day, breaking down his adaptability capacity forcing him to breakdown. This affects his health leading to increased blood pressure, palpitation, sleep disorders, insomnia, heart diseases, stomach problems etc

To cope up with stress is to manage it properly. Stress is that one occurring when pressure exceeds one’s ability to cope. We cannot avoid stress altogether in life. One have to live with it. One should not ruin life by ignoring it and this is where management comes. Without stress, what is life? Life is a Snakes and Ladders game. Snakes are the risks and ladders are the opportunities in life. We need to play it and move forward. Shocks in life leads to stress, overcoming it is management. One needs to be resilient to adapt to these conditions. Always try to be the right person for the situation demanded and adapt to the circumstances, enjoy it and use it to one’s advantage. Learn to prioritise and do what you love. It is the technique one can use to relax and this will definitely lessen the stress level. Physical exercise is another way to counter stress like yoga, exercises etc. Be positive and cheerful in attitude so that negative thoughts are driven away. These are the healthy ways to deal with stress.

Many people resort to unhealthy ways to deal with stress like drinking, smoking, drugs etc which will lead to more harmful things like addiction rather than lessening the level of stress.

To conclude, don’t ignore stress but tune your belief system to interpret and judge things positively avoiding negative thoughts. This allows a positive behavioural pattern, preparedness and expectations which gives a solution for stress management.

WORKING FROM HOME— Certain thoughts in the present scenario of Covid19

The global Corona virus pandemic has increased the work force working from home. The present crisis forced employers to allow their work force to work from home which was accepted whole heartedly with both the hands by the employees. They were able to say goodbye to the tedious commute to work place, finding affordable dwelling places, food, dress etc.

The Covid 19 has taught the employers that a percentage of the total work force working from home enable a distributed work force and it will keep the operations running even during a disaster either man made or natural. Both entry level unskilled workers to those requiring specialisation / training/expertise can work from home.

The employers must ensure that working from home is productive through proper follow up. They have to ensure that there is a designated work space set up with right technology and internet connection with required speed. There must be a scheduled way of social contacts, dealing with kids and family members, pets and other potential disruptions that can happen. One should be able to separate their work space from their personal space and use it only for work.

Take the case of Amazon, Dell Inc, Infosys, IBM, TCS etc – where they have implemented the process of working from home and have stated that by 2025 their 75% employment will be working from home (various reports in the media and news sites). It is also reported that many of the Companies may vacate 50% of their infrastructure too thus cutting down their expenditure which will have appositive impact on their bottom line.

The major negative aspect is that both the employer and at the same time employees must be able to avoid scam. Working from home has come a long way and with the present pandemic debacle it has peaked thus everybody is eager to earn a living without leaving home and hence must be very careful. The job seekers must always do a homework regarding the job providing employer so as to ensure that the firm is an established one and having good repute. Otherwise the job seekers may land into the trap of fraudsters where both are eager for money , one trying to earn for living and the fraudster using the opportunity for making easy money through cheating. For example: if working from home requires one to pay a fee upfront or need to buy a start up kit or requires parting/investment of sizeable amount, then it may probably be a scam.

The employee must stick to certain schedules otherwise they may fall into workaholic tendency (the employer need only maximum productivity). Even though it is said that there is freedom of work, added to that freedom there comes hours of uninterrupted hard work followed up by employers which makes working from home not that easy. For the employee it is working from home due to being at home, access etc but for the employer it is just an another location.

Finally working from home may be empowering, exciting and profitable and this will be to those who is aware of the pros and cons of working from home. There must be always a proper planning, focus, foresight and self discipline to make it exciting thus avoiding stress and strain.

SUICIDES…ARE THEY INCREASING DURING LOCKDOWNS/SOCIAL DISTANCING.

At the outset the answer is YES. From various reports it is understood that in various countries during the initial outbreak of novel Corona virus disease, the suicides were on the rise. But later the same has come down even when the lock down and social distancing was continuing. This may be due to people have come to know more about the virus, the stress has come down, the people becoming despair and falling into state of depression has come down and thus the suicides too.

Work pressures which were contributing earlier before the outbreak changed into sort of panic situation among the job holders of losing their jobs which contributed to suicides during the initial stage of lock down due to COVID 19. People subsequently adapted mentally to live with the virus and governments also followed with relaxations thus complete shutdown became a restricted lock down.

The above situations were among the working class but large number of farmers in developing and also agriculture dependent countries committed suicide since their products like cotton, vegetables, fruits, grapes etc were affected due to lock down. Take for example farmers of Marathwada region of Maharashtra state in India suffered huge loss and resorted to distress sales since their vegetables and grapes were rotting in the fields. Many farmers committed suicide because they were not able to meet both the ends and moreover the financial indebtedness led them to despair and they killed themselves.

another aspect is that people are never content in their way of life. They desire to have more and run behind luxury and create debts for achieving that. The mental satisfaction levels of people are low in most of the countries. Added to that the lock down reasoned for the loss of job and thus the income, the fear of loss of employment, loss in business, the freedom of movement which restricted the mental happiness etc contributed to people becoming despair in their attitude and they committed suicide. However in the later part most of the affordable countries came up with financial package to reduce the sufferings of their people, which reduced stress and panic situations thereby reducing suicides. Japan, Canada , Germany are examples.

On the other side—social distancing will definitely have a control over the spreading of the virus but definitely have a negative impact on people with depression and psychiatric problems. Mental health experts say the effects of the shutdown could lead to increases in anxiety, depression and suicide. 

Prof.Dr. Ulrich Hegerl, Chairman, Deutsche Depressionshilfe (DDH) warned that due to social distancing there may be less chance that friends or relatives recognize when someone is in a suicidal crisis and can organise professional help. That means help for arranging medical /clinical help and support system will lack and importance will be given to people affected with corona virus.

The secondary consequences of social distancing is the  economic stress, social isolation, reduced access to mental health treatment and could increase suicide risk. The role of the Governments, NGOs, Social workers etc  have a great role to play here. Some suggestions to reduce mental stress and thereby suicides are given below.

• Through various information system the people must stay informed of the virus, its outbreak and it must be up to date. The people should not be confused and lead them to panic situation. Counselling centres to be set up by NGOs and social workers following all norms of social distancing... tele counselling can be an option.  
• Government must review the situations as they are doing and come out with economic measures to avoid financial uncertainty and sustain livelihood and those steps directly improve the emotional and mental health of the people.
• Steps to be taken enabling more employees to work from home and thereby the fear of loss of job can be avoided. They also get more time to be spent with their family which reduces stress and thereby increasing their mental health.
• Anxieties of school/college students regarding their career must be reduced by the Governments announcing well in advance the steps being taken, to be taken so that there will not be any lag in their course period.
• Government to ensure  that the financial commitments like loan repayments, payment of fees, contractual commitments etc to be extended for the maximum possible period which will avoid both financial and mental stress.

Those people who are capable must understand that during adversities there are many opportunities hidden and must act positively. They should strive for victory and thus contribute their mite, knowledge and experience for the upliftment of the economy by generating new employment opportunities.

When we elaborate about the suicides due to lock down and social distancing we should note that death due to other reasons like non attention of non Covid  patients, lack of public health systems in many countries, very expensive private health system, non availability of services of private hospitals, deaths due to starvation, exhaustion etc in various countries during the exodus of migrant labourers to their home place due to loss of job, place of stay and food are some of the things that governments, NGOs, social workers etc has to address to with humanitarian consideration. 

Nature acts when human beings cross the limits. A lesson everybody has to learn is to respect the Nature.

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA??? WHETHER RACISM LIFTING ITS HEAD AND DIVIDING THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA???

It was very disheartening to see the sight that Mr George Floyd, a blackman, was killed due to pressing knee on his neck by a white policeman. Floyd died on 25th May 2020, after a Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin pinned him to the ground and put his knee on Floyd's neck for about eight minutes. This has happened on the basis of colour or what we call the racist thoughts.Previously released footage shows Floyd, pleading with the Police Officers.

"Please, please, please, I can't breath," he said. "My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Please, please. I can't breath. 

Ignited by the killing of Floyd by a law enforcement Officer, demonstrations targeting racial injustice and police brutality took place nation wide. If anyone was able to actually sit through the complete video recording of seeing George Floyd struggle for air, crying out to his Mama and pleading with the officers that he could not breathe, it is not a mystery why thousands of people, across the country are protesting in anger.

The entire America is paying for the act of these cold blooded policemen. With the COVID 19 outbreak already there and this outbreak of protest due to sadistic act by some policemen will affect the morale of the people. At this time I pray that let politics don’t interfere and deny justice to the victim.

The pain and suffering of families torn apart and children left without fathers is hard to even think about. It does not make our communities, society safe, it destroys them. There is no discrimination for the pain but there is discrimination between black and white, powerful and powerless, rich and poor. This must change in the enforcement of law, the law must be the same for black and white, powerful and powerless, rich and poor. 

No divinity or sacredness to be given to any people according to colour of their skin since all are sons of God.