The essence and reasons behind work-related stress have been on my mind a lot this fall. I find myself easily stressing about work-related matters, overthinking challenges with clients and partners, and various unfinished aspects of projects and assignments. There are mornings when I wake up realizing I’ve been working through all night in my dreams, and those nights don’t leave me feeling refreshed.
There are also nights when my brain refuses to sleep, and work-related thoughts keep me awake until the early hours. While I love entrepreneurship and my work, and value my clients, the issue doesn’t lie with them. Of course, there are challenging individuals in my daily life, but insomnia due to work is something I truly need to eliminate. Especially when combined with the sleep challenges of our special-needs child, it becomes quite a formidable combination at times.
These waves of stress and their accumulation in my life create a fluctuation where, at times, I go through lighter weeks without much thought about work in my free time, and at other times, work seems to be all I can think about. Then I find myself pondering what is a healthy amount to think about work. I often repeat to myself, “As an entrepreneur, it’s natural for me to think about work and my clients,” but there should be some sense in it, shouldn’t there? Otherwise, I might lose my enthusiasm for work!
Have you ever heard of the term “self-saving work approach”? I’m not sure if this is right term in english.. but hopefully you get the idea. It became familiar to me partly through work this fall, and I got excited about learning more! How liberating it is to think that I could learn to reduce excessive overthinking and overconcern about work, and enjoy daily life more – even if work is partially present all the time.
How to Prevent Thinking About Work on Weekends?
The frantic unpacking of work-related matters and problem-solving inside my head often troubles my mind on weekends when my brain would rather let go of issues and simply relax. The more I try to unwind and avoid mental work, the more it feels like the work gear in my brain wants to push through!
Now, I’ve developed a new method for combating work thoughts: I scheduled a meeting with MYSELF on Monday morning. There, a half-hour session awaits, where I gather my thoughts and contemplate what I plan to accomplish on Monday. Somehow, this might help when things are scheduled to be resolved at a specific time later.
I thought it might be a good idea to do the same summary of work-related matters as my last task every Friday afternoon, before transitioning into the weekend. This way, no work issue should remain completely unfinished, lingering in my mind.
So, thinking dates with myself on Friday and Monday. In between, I am free from work matters! Let’s believe in this!
What do you think of my realization?
