dianaschnuth

I don’t deal well with stress.

I should be clear: I rarely let stress affect me. I’m generally very good at seeing the Big Picture, taking a deep breath, and realizing that This Too Shall Pass. It’s not until I start falling behind on work, missing or pushing back deadlines, or negatively affecting others’ work that I really start to feel it.

When I worked in Lockbox at Sky Bank, the stress came from being forced to stay at work until ALL the payments were processed; that would often mean an 11-hour workday on Mondays, which eventually translated to physical and mental exhaustion.

My current gig, thankfully, is much less physically and mentally stressful. Generally. Right now, I feel like I keep screwing up, getting things done later than management wants them done, missing simple fixes, asking too many questions about how to do my job. I’ve been told explicitly that “time is of the essence.” Knowing that my shortcomings are keeping others from doing their job on time — thus increasing THEIR stress — well, it stresses me out.

I’ll be glad once I get these reports done. Or once I go on vacation. Whichever comes first.