BASEjumper

Hi All, do any of you out there have a high stress job? If so, how do you deal with it and maintain your sobriety/mental health? I'm struggling right now with a very stressful job, and it takes a lot out of me. I don't feel like drinking will help, I know it will only make things 10 times worse, but I'm wondering how the community manages these stresses in healthy ways while saying sober.

Right now the only thing I do to manage the stress is smoke while I'm at work


If any of you have any technuiqes you use to stay on top of your stress I'd appreciate it, I have a long term recovery group I meet with every week and I talk about it there, but I'm starting to feel like all I do is complain about my job.

Mark75

I am lucky, I can ride my bicycle at lunch... I go out and do 16 quick miles and the stress of the morning is either gone or I have some perspective and then I go into the afternoon with a nice endorphin feeling.

I can't always ride. But I always get away from it, go out and get some lunch, or just do an errend... Something to clear my head.

Some days, I just have to wait until I'm done and I just remind myself it's only for today.

FHB1

Hi BASEjumper! I was wondering the same thing. I have an extremely stressful job and I'd be interested to see how others on here maintain sobriety under those conditions.

Tuesday24

Good thread. I also have a very stressful job but have been out for a while. I am also looking for coping ideas for when I return. I would always drink to deal with the stress of the job (not on the job).
I think it comes down to finding healthy ways to decompress...looking forward to hearing those with a bit more experience

Supercrew

I'm in sales, which is considered "high stress", because I am always told I am only as good as my last month. I am in an industry that is also very high stress being that things in my industry are very time specific, it we miss a deadline many peoples jobs could be on the line as well as a lot of money. When issues occur I am the guy who has to address the issues with the customer and fix it.

Even though I am considered on call 24/7/365, I do my best to leave my business dealings away from my home. Yes, sometimes I can't avoid a call and I do have to do alot of work out of my home office, but I try to get some me time by working out or walking. I also coach youth sports which takes my mind off work, but brings it's own stress with it.
I do vent to my wife occassionally, but what I have realized over the last few months is my thoughts are really what creates the stress. I get what I focus on. If I focus on all my problems, I get more problems and they seem bigger than what they really are.

I think the first thing you need to do is ask yourself what is really causing your stress and get a real specific answer. The more specific you get the easier it will be to pinpoint the things that stress you out and come up with solutions so you don't have to feel stressed.

One example for me is I tend to procrastinate. I will put off things I don't like to do until the last minute. So then not only am I stressed about doing the task at hand, I stress about it more as I continue to put it off. By realizing this I now understand to limit my stress I do the things immediately, then I am not worried about them for long periods of time. When I complete a job or task I get satifaction and my stress level decreases.

Living in the moment also decreases my stress. By realizing I can't control what will happen tomorrow and I can't change what happened yesterday it keeps me from focusing on things I don't have control over.

The more you focus by complaining about your job the worse your job will seem. Try to fix what you can, and focus on the positive steps you can make to make it better.

Since I quit drinking my stress levels have dropped dramatically because I won't let things get to me.

My 2 rules for stress,

1. Don't sweat the small stuff.
2. Everything is small stuff.

FHB1

Thanks Supercrew! What you say makes a lot of sense. Thank you!

ZZworldontheweb

My job is pretty stressful, I'm kind of a troubleshooter with lots of deadlines. It is a struggle, yes. I take a bath after i get home from work, that helps. Exercise helps a lot. Meditation works well to clear your mind of irrational worries, IF you can truly concentrate and do it. Mostly I just have to keep an objective attitude.

FHB1

Mark75, I'm going to start riding my bike to work everyday. I live in a warm climate, and only about 3.5 miles away from work, so there is no excuse. I'll give it a shot and let you know how it goes!

DaveO

Just keep telling yourself this, and that it won't help

jaynedoe

BASE awesome thread idea!
and....
ME!ME!ME!
my job has been super stressful for the past 6 months with no end in sight. it's due to my coworkers mostly. it's hard to know when they are going to make a huge deal out of some little thing. there is a lot of belittling and me being beneath them. so it's a struggle.
i do try to focus on getting to the end of the day and thinking of relaxing or reading my book before bed (which is something i really like to do when i am sober)
but other than that.... i sure am looking for tips too.

CarolD

I've often wondered if the roots of the word job came from the trials the Bibical Job went thru>


Anyway...to protect my early fragile sobreity...in '89 I did leave the high stress field of the hospitality industry.
The quick cash...the night hours....the selling of liquor...the people I worked with..the customers....the entire ambience was no longer what I desired.


I took an office position...less stress less money regular hours and no "drinking" foot print....worked out well for me...

3 years later...I re located and switched again. This time into home health care for elders. Very satifiying but low pay ...long hours. I became a CNA at 56.

6 more years...another move and I went back to resturant work..this time in a place without alcohol and only part time. No stress
I would still be there but my now limited vision curtailed that after 3 years..

I'm not suggesting anyone rashly quit working...I am suggesting to look around with an open mind and see what options you now have.

My solid recovery has opened more dorrs than I anticipated.....
Whatever disturbs me today....I find prayer immensley useful.

.. .

BASEjumper

Thanks Supercrew, I think this is a really valuable insight for me. I've recognized that I'm starting to get a bad attitude from time to time, because I'm just focused on general problems over and over. I really need to narrow it down to specific things that make me stressed and manage to those. I'll think about this. A little more self-awareness, like your example of procrastinating, will go a long way I think. I'm probably doing some behaviors that contribute to my own stress and I don't recognize them.

Reset

I have a stressful job (my own business, 4 offices and 14 employees) but I've found that alcohol made me more stressed out. The alcohol isn't a stress reliever really, it's a mechanism to delay the stress. For me the stress ALWAYS came back and it was usually 50% worse because I delayed. And when you're drunk, it's much harder to coolly and logically sort through the things that are bothering you.

As far as techniques for managing stress: I know you've heard this one before but exercise is a key technique. Even if it's not that strenuous, just move around for a while. But the more I exercise the more I like strenuous exercise.

The second thing I do, and this is hard sometimes I admit, is to try and remove any negative emotions from a stressful situation. Instead of framing problems with things like "that customer is a jerk" or "why didn't they deliver it on time?" focus on what needs to be done to solve the problem. Negative emotions just pull you and everyone else in the room down, and I'm finding that not only is stress brought on by negative emotions, it is a negative emotion. Brush it off like a bug on your arm.

Froglet

I get stressed from my job as I deal w/ social anxiety and panic attacks. But I try to alleviate them by preparing and trying my best. I play sports and try hard, but my weakness is drinking, which is why I am here.

In the end, any type of drugs like alcohol, cigarettes, bud, etc. will not do you good in the long run.

Zebra1275

My job is very high stress. I'm responsible for a lot of stuff including about 120 employees. In years past I've taken a mini vacation from the stress by drinking. I don't do that anymore, with help from my higher power and taking things one day at a time. There are a variety of things I do to manage stress. In addition to AA and SR, exercise and hobbies also help me to get away from it.

Senorita

I have a high stress job. While I think I may be becoming less patient in my sobriety, the alcohol does not really take away the stress as much as it prolongs it. Sometimes I feel like I would love to crash out and drink my cares away but when it comes right down to it... it really does not help. In fact, once the 'yeah this feels nice' passes then all the stresses of the day come back times ten. And then I am too drunk to deal with those emotions correctly and I am a hot mess. The hardest thing for me is the brain fog I am going through,,, it does not work really well with this deadline driven job. I must constantly remind myself that I dont 'deserve' a drink, I am using it to deal with things I dont want to deal with.

loveon2legs

I have my own buisness and sometimes I get pulled in all directions, and my head is just spinning.....I make it a PRIORITY to take "time outs" for myself..like going to the beach and sitting by the ocean for awhile to decompress...just taking moments for yourself works wonders...

BennyHill

My job is high stress just like everyone else's.
The way I get through is by focusing on the task at hand, breaking it down to each thing, i.e. if I am on the phone, I focus on the conversation, keep things to the point, move on.
If I ever start to think about EVERYTHING I need to do, that's when things get messed up.
I call the tasks 'targets'. Hit one, move on to the next.
It might sound weird or lame, but it works for me.

And I'm lucky, I don't have anyone shooting at me, so that puts my "stress" in perspective!

40creek

I drive truck (Super-B train) in the Alberta oil patch. Very, very long hours and a lot of stress. I actually had to take a week off just to get started on the path to sobriety. I have had to days of indiscretion which led to a much tougher time of it. (once I dropped the ball and picked it up again it was easier to do it the second time.----less guilt). I just keep plugging away in the hopes time will lessen the desires.

LaFemme

The way I deal with stress is by realizing that stress is pretty much in our heAds. We control it and how it effects us.

In reality we have virtually nothing to be really stressed about, so we create things to stress about.

This is how I deal with stress.