I would stating the glaringly obvious if I said that the last 12 months have been incredibly stressful. One would be hard put to find one person in Australia who hasn’t experienced personal or work (or both) stress since the pandemic started. There are hundreds of thousands of people who lost jobs (and many have not been able to return to where they were in terms of working). There are people who have lost family to COVID, or who have family stuck overseas in countries ravaged by the virus.

For sure the economy seems to be bouncing back. The job market is hot, and many companies are frantically hiring again. In Australia, vaccinations have started and overall we have done a mighty fine job of protecting the population from the virus. So we should all feel really good and happy now right?

The thing about stress is that it builds and you learn to live with it so well, you don’t even know you are stressed anymore. Until some little event tips you over the edge and you find yourself yelling at the kids – a response that is hugely disproportionate to the crime (having said that, leaving Lego on the floor so a parent steps on it when stumbling back from the loo at 2AM should actually be a crime right?).

Many of us started working from home in 2020, and many of us still are working at least some days from home. Technology has brought us freedom from the commute and added incredibly valuable time to our ‘outside work’ life. But at the same time, perhaps it has also allowed work and personal stress to cross over in a way that both areas of our lives are affected. If you feel like you are actually working longer hours from home and/or if you feel like you have to prove that you are MORE available to answer questions if you are outside of the office, then your life may feel like it’s blurring into one.

Here are some clues:

Regardless if the stress you are experiencing is caused by work or by stuff happening at home, you need to realise when you are suffering from stress and seek help to deal with it. One thing you can try is to learn is Mindfulness.

Mindfulness is a relaxation technique based on Buddhist mindfulness meditation. Originally developed to help improve mood regulation and the reduction of depressive episodes, it has been found to have a number of health benefits and can be especially helpful in dealing with stress.

The great thing about Mindfulness is that you can do it anywhere in as little as one minute. The Black Dog Institute has a great help sheet that has some fantastic exercises to start your Mindfulness journey.

Of course, Mindfulness is only one option for the treatment of stress, and you should never ignore the effects of stress on both your mental and physical health. It is also important that you talk to your employer – they can’t help you if they don’t know you are not coping. You may find that your employer offers a number of services that can help you work through a period of stress.

If I had one more thing to say on this topic, it would be: Be Kind. Be kind to yourself – you are not super human and can never be perfect. Be kind to those around you – you never know which colleague may be going through something truly terrible right now and your kindness helps them make it through the day without losing their emotional equilibrium.

Lastly, there is a line from The Help that has always stuck with me, and I use it with my kids when they are having a tough time of it. So I say it to all of you who are experiencing a difficult time:

“You is kind, you is smart, you is important.”