stress blah-g
The weekend was...enlightening to say the least. I had a busy weekend filled with plenty of situations that would normally make me feel really wound-up, but I feel like it went very slow, surprisingly enough.
I had to put together a powerpoint presentation on some data I had collected for my job. I finished the images on Friday and started work on the ppt on Saturday. I slept in (which was great even though I went to bed real late, because I do not sleep any where near as often as I used to) and made food with a mate, so I got a later start then I would have hoped.
As I was working on the document, I felt a bit of obsessive-compulsiveness as I prepared the images for assessment and presentation. Altogether, I spent nearly eight hours on six slides (only five of which contained information), but I felt that my work was as close to sufficient as it could be without passing into unnecessarily excellent. Since the ppt was just a small presentation of some information between my research group at UF and a remote group at Georgia Tech, there was no reason to put an extraordinary amount of effort into the material. At the same time, I wanted to make sure my observations were concise and my expression was comprehensible. I felt phenomenal performance anxiety for something no one was going to be able to pin my face to, just my name.
This morning, my boss had replied to my email with a response on the ppt. He had said I had done a great job and thanked me. Immediately, I felt a surge of pleasure. Maybe it was for my work. Maybe it was for my effort. Maybe it was for myself. Either way, I had to qualms and I felt like I was living on top of a cake.
Many of the stressors I have experienced have been related to performance and evaluation, particularly in the instances of people I hold in high regard. I have no anxiety when it comes to tests, but first moment I have to speak for three minutes (max) in front of a group of twenty of my co-workers, I pour over my thoughts excessively and jitter my hands, feet, and legs like a caffine fiend for the hour I am waiting in the meeting.
Either way, this weekend was a significant step back from the normal rage of emotion and drama that I should be feeling between work and my social life. While there is a good possibility this could have surmounted from my bosses comment, I feel like this feeling of efficacy mostly comes from my perception of the situation. Taking the hardiness theory into account, some strategic placement of mental roadblocks between cognitive appraisal of the situation and my emotional response may have worked to subdue the physical responses of anxiety, depression, and inefficiency.
I still think I need to work on my timing, routine, and procrastination.
I had to put together a powerpoint presentation on some data I had collected for my job. I finished the images on Friday and started work on the ppt on Saturday. I slept in (which was great even though I went to bed real late, because I do not sleep any where near as often as I used to) and made food with a mate, so I got a later start then I would have hoped.
As I was working on the document, I felt a bit of obsessive-compulsiveness as I prepared the images for assessment and presentation. Altogether, I spent nearly eight hours on six slides (only five of which contained information), but I felt that my work was as close to sufficient as it could be without passing into unnecessarily excellent. Since the ppt was just a small presentation of some information between my research group at UF and a remote group at Georgia Tech, there was no reason to put an extraordinary amount of effort into the material. At the same time, I wanted to make sure my observations were concise and my expression was comprehensible. I felt phenomenal performance anxiety for something no one was going to be able to pin my face to, just my name.
This morning, my boss had replied to my email with a response on the ppt. He had said I had done a great job and thanked me. Immediately, I felt a surge of pleasure. Maybe it was for my work. Maybe it was for my effort. Maybe it was for myself. Either way, I had to qualms and I felt like I was living on top of a cake.
Many of the stressors I have experienced have been related to performance and evaluation, particularly in the instances of people I hold in high regard. I have no anxiety when it comes to tests, but first moment I have to speak for three minutes (max) in front of a group of twenty of my co-workers, I pour over my thoughts excessively and jitter my hands, feet, and legs like a caffine fiend for the hour I am waiting in the meeting.
Either way, this weekend was a significant step back from the normal rage of emotion and drama that I should be feeling between work and my social life. While there is a good possibility this could have surmounted from my bosses comment, I feel like this feeling of efficacy mostly comes from my perception of the situation. Taking the hardiness theory into account, some strategic placement of mental roadblocks between cognitive appraisal of the situation and my emotional response may have worked to subdue the physical responses of anxiety, depression, and inefficiency.
I still think I need to work on my timing, routine, and procrastination.