***Does Your Work Lack Soul?

Does your job lack soul? If yes, you probably feel stressed out and miserable a lot of the time, right? And you’re also probably not living the quality of life you deserve. Well you’re not alone. Work has lost its soul for many people, including those in high paying jobs. Work without soul is work that lacks a loving connection to life. It’s work that involves little if any meaningful connection to other people. The great Russian writer Dostoevsky explained why work without soul can be so distressing and demoralizing. He put it this way: “Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence.” The shifting patterns of work brought on by globalization and outsourcing have left many people struggling with feeling overworked, underpaid and undervalued in meaningless jobs. As a result, many people are suffering from the often inseparable problems of stress, anxiety and depression.nStudies show that workplace stress can be very dangerous to your health and quality of life. It drives many serious problems, more so than any other life stressor—including money, marriage or family problems. Levels Never Seen BeforennJob stress is now at levels never seen before. Men and women are working longer and harder for less money and with less job security and less “job say so” than ever before. Many people think that outsourcing to countries like India has left American and western European workers cheated while benefiting Indian and Chinese workers tremendously. But a closer look tells a different story. Indians working long hours answering telephone calls from America and Europe show signs of chronic job stress: heart disease, insomnia, musculoskeletal pain and injury, depression and serious family problems. Stress Hormones are the Culprit: People Just Wear OutnnAs job stress has gotten progressively worse over the past few decades, so have stress hormone driven diseases including cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure. The relationship is unmistakable. But these “health problems” are not natural. They don’t occur as a natural consequence of aging.nTo think of them as “medical conditions” originating “inside” of people is a mistake. They’re linked to and driven by psychosocial causes such as stressful work conditions, causes that most physicians are not trained to assess or address. As Drs. Lyle H. Miller and Alma Dell Smith, two stress researchers put it: “Chronic stress kills. People wear down. Stress is linked to the six leading causes of death.” Stress hormones are what break people down. And the greater your job stress, the more nervous and depressed you’ll feel and the less satisfied you’ll be with your life. Several studies show that differences in rates of anxiety, depression and life satisfaction are due to differences in job stress levels. Don’t accept high levels of work-related stress in your life. Take stock and prepare to make a job change when you can, a change that will put you in work with more soul and less strain. Confucius offered us great wisdom on work when he said: “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” That’s easy to say, but hard to do. Yet it’s not impossible. Get whatever help you need—don’t go it alone. Just knowing that you’re planning to change jobs when conditions for employment improve will make you feel in control. And feeling in control , by itself, will help lower your stress hormone levels. Beware: This Kind of Job Stress, It’s the WorstnnIf your work places great demands on you, but offers you little or no control over when and how you do it—then find another job. Because “high demand, low control” work is a surefire recipe for the most dangerous kind of job stress. Any kind of ongoing job stress can wear you down and make you ill. But research shows that a high demand, low control work situation is the worst. It can flood your system with stress hormones every day. How to Stop Suffering NownnYou can help yourself tremendously if you learn how to do two things relating to stress hormones: 1) prevent them from leaking into your system on a regular basis and 2) flush them from your blood and tissues so they don’t linger and cause harm. If you learn how to do these two things, you won’t have to be dependent on medications with side effects that take the joy out of your life. With the right “know how” and support, you can learn how to do it easily. Once you feel good and in control again, you can more easily find ways to bring soul back into your work life. Visit www.MesicsTraining.com and download FREE The Little Black Book of Stress Relief Secrets. It will give you the knowledge and tools you need to start getting these two things done right away. Manganiello/MESICS LLC ©--All Rights Reserved 2009nn