As a Professional Carer, you spend most of your time looking after others and it can sometimes take its toll. Like any rewarding career, caring for others it’s not without its challenges and these can become overwhelming if you don’t manage your stress levels. Remember – you can’t look after others if you’re not feeling right yourself!
It’s especially important as a Professional Carer to stay calm at work, as the quality of your care could be negatively affected if you’re constantly stressed out. Not only that, it’s not good for your own health either.
Over the next 2 weeks we will be focusing on this very issue, and giving you our 10 best tips to help you overcome any workplace stress that you might experience. Here are the first 5:
Take care of yourself physically
Stress can be caused by many factors, internally and externally. But one that is sometimes overlooked is the stress caused by not taking care of yourself physically.
A lack of exercise or a poor diet can increase stressors within your body, causing you to become irritated and easily fatigued which can also serve to make you more stressed out when you’re on the job.
Ensuring that you’re getting some form of exercise 3-4 times a week will allow you to blow off some steam and help you to stay calm and collected in the workplace. Walking, jogging or sports are really easy and fun ways to get your weekly dose of exercise.
Lead a fulfilling social life
Balance is an important part of pretty much everything – especially life! Getting it right can be hard, but a good first step is making sure that a fulfilling social life is part of it.
Give yourself a day off once in a while, free from work or anything else so you can do whatever you like, whether it be seeing friends or spending time with your family. These times will allow you to unwind and forget about work for a little bit, making sure that any stress leftover from work doesn’t build up.
Make friends at work
Tying in nicely with a good social life, is making sure work is a positive place as well. A good way to help that is to make friends at work, whether that be with residents or colleagues. It will give you something to look forward to on those off days that you might have.
These friends that you make will also be able to support you in more difficult situations at work, meaning you won’t feel out of your depth, knowing someone else has got your back. They’ll also allow you to unwind a bit on your breaks at work, helping to release some of the stress that might build up during a shift.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help
Asking for help is something that can be difficult to do. It can sometimes feel like you’re being a burden if you need assistance with something, but it’s important to remember that everyone needs help once in a while. If you end up doing something wrong because you never sought assistance, then the stress associated with that could be worse than simply asking for help in the first place.
Also, don’t be shy about accepting help from others either. If someone offers assistance, say ‘yes’. It’s always good for your stress levels if you can share the load a little bit, and you might even be able to make a new friend out of it!
Know your limits
Know what you can and can’t do. Everyone has their limits; no carer is perfect, so make sure you’re aware of your strengths and weaknesses, and what you were trained for. Always try to work within the scope of your skillset and what your training and experience allows.
If you’re unsure of anything to do with taking care of your clients, then speak up. No one ever got into trouble for asking a question!
Understanding your limits means that you won’t ever feel out of your depth and thinking that you’ve done something wrong – which are both things that can greatly contribute to stress levels.
So there we have it – the first 5 of Newly’s top 10 tips for managing workplace stress. Stay tuned, as the final 5 tips will be revealed in our blog next week