Hey there, viewers!
Stress is never good for your health.
But have you ever wondered why you’re feeling stressed?
Even when there doesn’t seem to be a reason?
You feel your life is pretty good and everything is going well, then why are you stressed?
Chances are you’re facing secondhand stress.
In today’s video, we will be discussing what this is, and what the signs are.
Can having a negative attitude be a sign?
What about anxious coworkers?
How about feeling high strung all the time?
We will be talking about all of this AND more…
What is Secondhand Stress?
Secondhand stress is like a yawn.
It’s contagious.
You’re watching one person doing it and before you know it, you are too.
Secondhand stress is the stress you feel when someone around you is also feeling it.
To put it simply, your body is experiencing a stress response triggered by someone else’s
behavior.
Our bodies are highly sensitive to these cues.
They mimic them as soon as there is another person around you feeling anxious and worked
up.
You can easily identify secondhand stress if you know the triggers and symptoms.
Let’s take a look at all of them.
Signs You Have Secondhand Stress
Stressed for no apparent reason
The biggest telltale sign of secondhand stress is feeling worked up and having no clue why.
You may have all the symptoms of stress, but none of the reasons.
If you’ve evaluated everything, from your work to your personal life, and have no explanation,
it is secondhand stress.
You are likely picking up someone else’s false alarms and feeling anxious.
Secondhand stress slowly creeps into your life as you look away.
You don’t think about it or even consider it and this is exactly why it can build up
to the point you are feeling physical and emotional trouble.
Your coworker is always anxious
Do you have a coworker who is always anxious?
I mean someone who keeps worrying about projects, deadlines and possible setbacks.
Well unfortunately, chances are you too are worrying without even realizing it.
Being around someone stressed and engaging with them has an immediate effect on your
nervous system.
In fact, a study was conducted to find out how people felt observing people who were
stressed.
Around 26% of people had an increased level of cortisol, the stress hormone.
This was just from observing a person who was stressed.
So maybe that’s the reason I end up getting angry and stressed whenever the driver next
to me honks angrily.
That ripple effect of horn honking is certainly a testimony of secondhand stress.
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You find yourself always rushing
Do you find yourself constantly rushing through tasks?
Like your deadline might be days away, yet you will be rushing through everything?
Unfortunately, this can give you secondhand stress.
When you begin thinking every waking minute of life is an emergency, you set yourself
up for stress.
If it’s your boss, coworker, or romantic partner making you feel like you’re losing
time, you get secondhand stress.
When someone else is trying to hustle you for a long period, you’ll end up feeling
your nose is up to the grind.
Don’t rush through everything.
You’re inviting emotional and physical health issues.
Ask yourself, is your quality of work suffering because of the constant rush?
Take a step back and think, is it all worth it.
Ask your boss or colleague for a time extension if possible.
Relax and breathe deep.
It’s not the end of the world.
You have become a pessimist
Have you always been an upbeat positive person?
Are you all of the sudden feeling overwhelmed by negative thoughts?
If you feel like you’ve stopped feeling hopeful, you may have secondhand stress.
When you’re surrounded by people who are always stressed out, it can ruin your chances
of being happy.
And your brain doesn’t help either.
That makes you more likely to be drawn to negativity than positivity.
Even science backs this claim.
A study has found that when people are stressed, they release a chemical inhaled by people
around them, making them more prone to anxiety.
This means we can actually breathe in STRESS!
But if you have stressed coworkers in the workplace, don’t be disheartened.
All you need to do is say three positive things for every negative thought.
Talk to yourself and your team about the group’s collective strengths and talents.
Before we move ahead, here is a video you may like.
Watch this video and learn about 11 silent stress signs that are killing you slowly.
You feel worn out
Have you ever noticed when your partner, family members or even a work colleague is high-strung,
you tend to get worn out easily?
Even when you haven’t worked much?
In reality, your brain is picking up on the stress and infecting you with it.
This contagious stress has made your brain consider everything as a fight for survival.
And in order to get you through this perceived crisis, your brain overworks, making you tired
and fatigued.
When you feel like your energy is low, but everything is physically fine, you need to
take a good long look at your environment.
There’s likely something stressful happening.
You need to either eliminate or manage it.
You receive annoying emails from your coworkers
So your coworker sent you more useless?
Anybody can get stressed if they receive an abrupt message.
This can give you secondhand stress.
But there is a small catch.
How can you read the tone of someone’s writing?
If you tend to get upset after reading emails, remind yourself that a lot of times, people
are just being plain and writing matter-of-factly.
Do not get set off by the perceived tone of an email.
You do not know what the tone was when they were writing it.
You get notifications for your emails
I don’t know about you but email notifications, when I am working on something crucial, can
definitely set me off.
Your concentration is set on the work you are doing, and when an email notification
arrives, it demands your instant attention.
It gets shifted to what’s in the message.
If you’re like me, you might have already started freaking about the pending work assignments
piling in the email folder.
Email notifications strike a nerve.
You usually drop everything to pay attention to it.
So the next time you sit down to work, hit snooze on the email notifications.
It will save you from tons of secondhand stress.
Believe me!
Your creativity has taken a hit
Do you feel like your creativity has taken a hit?
You used to rule pitch meetings at work.
Now everyone of your ideas seems tired and unoriginal.
This could be a telltale sign that something isn’t right in your environment and you
have secondhand stress.
It could be a nagging team leader pushing you harder than necessary.
When you’re feeling anxious due to stress, your brain will trick you into thinking you
don’t need to ace the task, just complete it.
This is where your creativity suffers.
The best thing you can do is not beat yourself up just to create something stellar.
You are already stressed and the extra pressure of being creative only worsens the situation.
You need to turn off your primal response of fight or flight.
So just let things be and do what comes naturally.
Don’t try harder.
With time, as your secondhand stress evaporates, you will get your creativity and groove back.
You find it difficult to concentrate
Have you been dealing with brain fog lately?
Like you’re finding it hard to focus on one task?
You’re likely picking up on other people’s stress and getting all worked up.
Secondhand stress is making it difficult for you to concentrate.
Brain fogs are one of the major signs of stress.
Do you think you have secondhand stress?
Do you have any of these signs?
Let us know in the comments below.
We would love to hear from you!