With April being Stress Awareness Month, what better time to talk about how stress can affect us – and in particular, the stresses that writers can face? Digital Services Manager, Megan Lockwood-Jones highlights the importance of combatting stress:
Stress is something that many will experience throughout their lives – whether that’s in the workplace, in education or at home. In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, people all over the world are surrounded by worries. Taking time out to acknowledge what is causing our stress and which coping mechanisms and techniques can help, as well as realising which can hinder, can be very beneficial.
Writing as a career can be stressful – not only with the usual factors such as earning enough to live on (and writers’ earnings are always under pressure) but also with balancing the different needs of creativity with the business side of writing, family pressures, the self-imposed stresses of being the best writer you can, deadlines, searching for the next commission or idea… Being a writer can be all-encompassing.
At Troubador, we have three Mental Health Champions (myself, Chelsea and Jane) and we ensure that wellbeing is kept firmly on the agenda for staff to help improve mental wellbeing. But can any of the techniques we use in our workplace help you as a writer?
One of the exercises we’ve used focusses the mind on the immediate, solvable stresses – the ‘Stress Container’ exercise. Everyone has a stress container of a different size – think of it as a bucket that, once full, will overflow. However, if we have a ‘tap’ on the side of the bucket, we can release the pressure before it spills over (i.e. before stress overwhelms us). To do this, sketch a bucket on some paper, and in that bucket write down all the things that are causing you stress and anxiety; this could be a writing deadline that you don’t think you’ll reach, writer’s block, family dramas or financial worries, or more abstract concepts like fear of the future. After ‘filling’ the bucket with these worries, draw a little tap on the side of the bucket and write down the (positive) things you do that make you feel better and reduce your stress. This could be simple things like taking a walk, gardening, spending time with the family, watching a film; these are thing things you need do to manage the stress and stop it building. Next, go back to the worries you’ve put in the bucket, and consider the evidence you have to support your feelings; what things can you change? What can’t be changed and that you need to accept or deal with differently? What needs urgent attention and can be solved more easily? Can anyone else help, who can you talk to? What actions can you take to resolve some of the stresses? Sometimes you already know the solution but are not ready to tackle it. Also, think about what unhelpful coping mechanisms you use to deal with stress (too much wine, chocolate, avoiding situations…?)
We’ve used this stress container model successfully to help focus on the immediate, solvable stresses against those that may take longer to resolve. Acknowledging your feelings and taking the time to work out what can be changed, and how you can help yourself, is the first step to changing your relationship with stress.
Some more general (but some of the most important) things that we encourage are taking regular breaks, talking freely with other members of staff and getting some fresh air. A good chat over a cup of tea, or simply taking time out to gather your thoughts, can make the difference to your day. There is also a lot of evidence that controlling breathing can drastically help control stress – and these techniques can be easily learned and done while working.
Remember that some stress is beneficial too – without any stress we don’t develop resilience, and don’t push ourselves out of our comfort zones – but too much stress, or the wrong type of ongoing, unrelenting worry, wears us down and causes long-term health issues.
Most writers choose to write because they take pleasure and enjoyment from the writing process, but this can suddenly become its own pressure when it is no longer an enjoyable hobby.
So, some tips for managing stress for writers:
Organise yourself
Stress can make it much harder to maintain focus. Make a list of tasks, or plan the article or story, or come up with a time schedule for the work. We cope better with stress when we can break a complex task down into small, achievable lumps – so for the ‘big daunting projects’, see if you can break these down further into small tasks. This also cheats the brain into feeling a sense of achievement and giving us an endorphin hit once items are checked off the list.
Get outside
There is so much evidence about how being outside, in nature, helps reset our stressed brains – even 15-20 minutes outside makes a massive difference. When we get stressed, especially at work or with our writing, it’s easy to think we can’t leave our desks and must sit there and finish a job, but if we are being really unproductive at our desks, it’s far better to take a break.
Breathing
Gain control of your breath and you can gain control of so much more. We take short breaths when stressed and hold our breath, but slowing our breathing reduces the stress hormones in our body. When we lose control of our breathing we also can’t think straight, so everything seems so much worse. As a starting point, the NHS has some simple but effective breathing exercises for stress.
Writing might sound like the perfect occupation to outsiders, but if it’s your career it can bring stress just as in other jobs. With so many of us at home during the lockdown, some are finding opportunities for relaxation, creativity and renewal that the lockdown brings, but others are now trying to be the breadwinner, teacher, carer and creative genius too. Take a moment to think about your personal stresses and consider what impact stress has on your life.
We hope that the above tips from Troubador’s Mental Health First aiders offer a good starting point.