Manish’s Story
Manish is the project manager in one of the prolific IT companies. Whenever he has to make a presentation to a client (which is quite often), he psyches himself and is totally absorbed in his presentation. He says he loves stress. He thrives on pressure.
During the 3-4 days leading to the presentation, Manish skips his regular meals. He feels spending time on eating is a waste of time. He does acknowledge the importance of food for the body and keeps a steady supply of chocolates and biscuits. He knows he needs the sugar to keep himself vigilant. During the last few presentations, he experienced extreme fatigue. One evening he dozed off and opened his eyes the next morning.
What is Manish experiencing?
What is stress? When asked this question, people have different answers. Some will talk about the effects of stress; some will talk about the causes of stress. The usual responses I get in my retreats and playshops (not workshops) are usually these. My work stresses me. My boss stresses me. My children stress me. When I am stressed, I cannot eat anything. When I am stressed, I don’t get sleep. When I am stressed, I get a headache or my heart beats fast. Basically, there is no single, standardised definition of stress.
I like this definition by Bill Mitchell, a clinical psychologist from the University of Aberdeen - Stress is the loss of equilibrium that we experience when the pressures imposed exceed our coping resources.
As pressure increases, the performance does increase. This is the “Learning” phase and this is the healthy stress or Eustress. This relationship of direct proportion continues till we hit our “Peak Performance” level. Now, we have the maximum resources and capabilities to handle the pressure. We can sustain this performance for some time, until, the pressure exceeds are coping resources. Then the performance is “Jaded” and it is only going downhill.
That’s how Manish survives the initial stages. As the pressure increases his performance decreases and he hits rock bottom fatigue. Soon he will reach a stage of burnout. Before that happens, he needs to fortify himself with additional coping resources. Stress is inevitable. And as we climb the corporate ladder, stress is a way of life. Chronic stress affects the function of the immune system significantly and causes illness.
We hear about young executives suffering from a heart attack or high blood pressure. And we are surprised! They eat health and they exercise regularly. They don’t smoke and they have alcohol only socially and in very small quantities. We can see all this. But do they sleep well? Do they have a nagging headache or some other pain every day? Do they have ulcers? Do they have enough coping resources to maintain their equilibrium when they are under extreme stress?
What do you do to build your coping resource? In this VUCA world, what is your anchor, your refuge?
And while sugar does give instant energy, the ill effects of consistent consumption of large amounts of sugar can impact any part of the body. And this is true for sugar in any form. We tell ourselves we are using natural sources, but honey and jaggery are still “sugar”. There are dietary lifestyles like being a fruitarian – having a diet of only fruits. I personally know people who report a healthier wellbeing on a fruit diet. Personally, I am wary of such extreme diets and don’t indulge in them. I have balanced meals with a low or no simple carbohydrates like rice or flour. I focus on complex carbohydrates like vegetables. I also consume my fats with proteins. All natural proteins come with fats. So I cook my food in clarified butter (ghee). I have coconuts and peanuts. But that’s me. Listen to your body and honour it. Nurture it with the nutrition it needs.
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