The best way to handle stress is to get to the core: What is causing your stress?
You could distract yourself with so many fancy things..eat out...go shopping...do facebook... but in the end, you still have to face reality. You have to face your stress. There's no escaping it. Sooner or later you have to face it. The sooner you do it, the better.
If it is about your job, you can ask yourself the following questions:
1. What is/was it about your job that you love/d?
2. Are you continuously "growing" and learning in your present job?
3. Upon reflection, what is causing the real stress? the job? people? environment?
4. What can you do about the stress? Is it something within your control?
I am doing this blog because I myself am experiencing burnout.
After serving so many years in an NGO, I finally am admitting that I am reaching a point when I say I am starting to fall out of love with what I am doing. The worst thing that you can feel towards anything or anyone is apathy. Hate is not the opposite of love. Apathy is. For how can you feel indifferent about something you care about? You can only feel hate because you are concerned. You feel about the person or about the issue.
Before, I used to feel guilty about leaving the NGO. What about the children I'll be leaving behind? Who will care for them? I've already earned enough experience to do my job well. What if the person who replaces me does not know anything about the job? How will she do it well? How will I be ensured that they are in good hands? How can I even imagine leaving them? Am I turning to be a bad person?
I've been held back for so long and I have buried those thoughts thinking it may all just be a phase. It was just a matter of paradigm shift.
But here I am again, thinking the same thoughts after all these time.
I finally have come to realize that saying goodbye may just be the right thing to do. I can only give so much. It is difficult to continue giving when I don't have "it" anymore.
