How do you cope with stress?!

[movie_surprime11]

all i do is go home go on a fighting game or army building game set it to easy and destroy my oppoments rly works also in between kickin my bro for 5 mins

[Geoff]

I found the guidelines in this book to be very helpful.

[Oops_my_bad]

How do you guys cope with stress

I don't

[_Bat_]

I found the guidelines in this book to be very helpful.

 

[witch]

I go and stand somewhere with a nice view (sea, hills etc) and remember that it will all be the same in 100 years - or if it isn't we won't be here to worry about it.

I have found as I have got older that I am more capable of seeing that I AM doing my best, that I CANNOT do any more than I am doing and I try to remember this at all times.

I try to live in the present - we are all guilty of always thinking about what is coming next - what we will do when we get to work, or tomorrow, or next week. Planning is good but we MUST live in the now and enjoy things today.

Other than that - I do a lot of exercise and I cuddle my husband when he is home, or the dog (I would cuddle the children but at 19, 17 and nearly 15 they aren't so keen as when they were younger!)

 

If you are doing the work of three people, you need to flag this up quickly - otherwise you will go off with stress too! Prioritising work is the key I think

Good Luck!

[bishopsgarthstockton]

I also do a lot of boxing, gym, running, and my fav sport at the moment is kite surfing.

 

When im not doing any of thouse you will find my walking in the west yorkshire coutryside with my girlfriend, trying to follow the AA pub walk guide book

[bossman]

I just remember that it is only a job and that there are only 24 hours in a day.

 

Family comes first and school second.

 

Informing the staff of events in advance seems to work as they then know that you are busy and re-inforcing the ICT support policy that if it isn't reported using the ICT support portal then it takes a back seat to everything else.

 

Just having a look on here and reading all the rants and raves releases tension.

 

Last but not least enjoy and try to have a laugh even if it is at yourself.

[stephenleak]

Try this, guys ...

portable_stress_reliever.doc

[Joedetic]

I used to lock myself in the server room and cry whilst burning pictures of various members of staff and kids and swigging on a bottle of whiskey.

 

Well....no. Just did what everyone else does and think "There's more to life." Then I remembered that I was only a student and I wasn't contractually obliged to do anything . Muah ha ha ha ha.

[Guest richard]

Stress at work over the last few months has driven me to the point of leaving education and possibly IT entirely. Things are getting a bit better at the moment as I now have a new girlfriend who is wonderful and is helping me find ways to deal with it.

[Halfmad]

In all honesty I'm struggling at the moment, doctor is trying to persuade me that taking some time off would be a good idea but I'm against going off on stress related grounds. He can of course force me if he wants to but as yet has resisted doing so. I'd be bored at home if I'm honest, first week would be fine but 4-6 weeks? I'd be crawling up the walls.

 

I'm on my own, 400 clients, 5 servers, 35-40 projectors and a heap of other responsibilities that range from creating/managing the websites to setting up projectors for assemblies and even making up word templates for staff to use.. I also manage our budgets and have running arguments with SMT about what we should be buying.

 

Some days I love the job, but at the moment and for the past couple of months it's just been hellish. Staff have unrealistic expectations and although I'm managing them as best I can at the moment I've actually started not caring - which is a really bad sign as I take a great deal of pride in my work.

 

My daily commute is now anything up to 3 hours, generally around 2 though thanks to motorway roadworks etc. I personally don't think that's helping much at all as I have to start work at 7:30 on days that we have assemblies which means being out of bed before 6am.

[MkII]

Itz bin sed on another thread how stressful IT Support can be as a profession. Thing is we're all here usually because itz wot we luv to do and we're dedicated to doing it, being highly motivated to constantly push our knowledge forward. Otherwise, lets face it, schools would be truly stuffed and be paying thru the nose for what we do. It can get stressful in a school, if you're one of the lucky ones who's still unaffected, then you're lucky or new. Hopefully it'll stay that way for ya!

[mattx]

HalfMad - that sounds like a nightmare and its not doing your health any good - do you also have a family 'cos if so I would take time off and possibly consider other options.

[Halfmad]

I'm looking for a new job nearer home, I'd love not to have to drive every day!

 

I've asked for a technician and our Bursar is furious that it's been turned down without any consultation. Even a part time tech would help a huge amount and most importantly actually improve the quality of work - not just the quantity.

 

Sadly Mattx it's all about money, they don't want to spend it on IT people when they can get in another person to scribe for dyslexic kids or another teaching assistant. They really need to get priorities straight.

[mattx]

Well just don't do yourself in Haldmad - at least by the sounds of it your Bursar is on your side.

I hardly see my Bursar - I would say I see the assistant Bursar more, about twice a year if I'm lucky !!

Its very odd where I am - and after a few years I still can't get used to it !!

[localzuk]

I would speak to your union rep if I were you, and arrange a meeting with your manager and them and outline the problems. It is not reasonable to expect a single person to handle that workload - I am starting to struggle with my workload and it is half the clients you have (by struggle, I mean people aren't being dealt with in a reasonable time).

[Netwacky87]

WoW!, i didnt expect this much responce! Thanks guys, your replys mean alot!

 

I think the main point of this is just managing my time alot better! Any tips on that?

[beeswax]

WoW!, i didnt expect this much responce! Thanks guys, your replys mean alot!

 

Glad to see that the response and you sharing your fears has helped.

 

I think the main point of this is just managing my time alot better! Any tips on that?

 

Seeing as you're the only one manning the fort, I feel you'll be at the mercy of any "emergency" which may arise. You can be getting on with something relatively important, but if the mail server goes down etc. Prioritise and try not to feel guilty about having to drop work to fix a bigger leak. Explain to people that you'll try to get things done in a certain time, but with just the one of you, you may well be taken away from the task in hand to do soemthing else.

[CyberNerd]

I think the main point of this is just managing my time alot better! Any tips on that?

 

implement this: http://becta.org.uk/fits/

[strawberry]

WoW!, i didnt expect this much responce! Thanks guys, your replys mean alot!

 

i find the best way to deal with stress is to laugh at people, when the idiot teacher rants they've lost work tell them all about your backup plan and how it works and how hes actually a complete tool for losing it!.

 

and if it gets too much, dont fight it, give in, go on holiday, hand in your notice!. Fighting it is a losing battle.

[john]

Stress at work over the last few months has driven me to the point of leaving education and possibly IT entirely.

I have to agree with your richard, I am feeling very very much like that, my family have said I should go see the doctor but I know he will either give me happy pills or sign me off and that wouldn't look good when applying for jobs elsewhere stating that i've been signed off work due to stress so would rather avoid that. So my method is to sit down and cry in a corner at home and try and sleep, sleep is a strange thing I get only a few hours a night as I have so much going on in my head I can't sleep, banging my head against a brick wall is more fun at times than trying to sleep! All this mess is my thinking behind jacking it all in and leaving the job and giving up and rethinking my life, not that I could do anything else really as IT has been my life for years.

[sidewinder]

I personally dont let it bother me, I always remember that 90% of the time, the 'massive crisis' that is occuring at work means nothing at the end of the day.

Not to say I dont take my job seriously, because I do, but I always stay quite light hearted and I dont let ranting teachers etc get me down.

 

Im also one of those people who make sure to leave their work at work. Well not strictly true as I am on Edugeek in my own time talking about work but you know what I mean

When I am out of the office door, everything is out of my mind till the next morning, theres no point at all in ruining your evening worrying about things

[beeswax]

You might want to try this link

[apoth0r]

I get home have some dinner, sit down for half hour or so and then hit the weights and have a jog. Nothing like working out your stress through a bit of exercise. Cures me completely.

[_Bat_]

I get home have some dinner, sit down for half hour or so and then hit the weights and have a jog. Nothing like working out your stress through a bit of exercise. Cures me completely.

 

Agreed. Exercise, while I don't do it anywhere near enough and sometimes you have to force yourself to do it (especially if you feel depressed or worried), once you have finished you feel an awful lot better. It obviously does you a lot of good too, so kills two birds with one stone