I have been working on teams, and deadlines have not been met. As a result all the deadlines hit about 12/15. I am scattering my staff to fix everything (we are the trainers and have to rely on the teams to have the ability to move forward. Until the "product" is tested and ready, we cannot prepare training materials or have any training.)
Today, in the thick of eveything, my body melted down--not a low, not a trip to ER, but just so many problems, I had to leave. In 15 years as a trainer, this has never happened. I am a litle wigged out. I know now that my decision to retire after 2012 bonuses is correct, but feel like I am losing my ability to cope.
Just a rant, but wonder how everyone deals with strees and its impact...
I would definitely say that the stress my son experiences is no where near what you are dealing with, yet I know it can wreak havoc in anybody. We pinpointed stress as the cause of rising blood sugar in my son at the time he started High School a year and a half ago. His 2 honors classes alway wind up in the morning, may because they think the kids will be more fresh and willing to focus, but for us, its the worst time because even though its his lowest carb meal, its the hardest to cover well. All the teenage hormones are working against us, HGH, adrenaline, (does testosterone? I don't know.) Anyway, Cortisol (stress) must be our hardest because his mornings are beautiful (if we don't go hog wild with carbs) on the weekends. So there's definitely something happening, haven't total got on top of it again. I had his weekday basal rate higher in the early morning hours than on the weekends. Changed it for summer vacation because we having lots of lows, Since school started again we've just been bolusing more at breakfast. Vow to do this weekend. Hope you get some other responds that are helpful, since I just relayed our experience with stress. Best Wishes.
How do I deal with stress? By grabbing someone for a cup of something. Tea, crystal light, coffee, whatever.
By DEVELOPING some team leaders in the group who can each handle a few.
WALKING OUT, leaving the stress people to think for themselves, come up with a cooler environment.
By taking my blood pressure with one of those nice new little machines to ensure the stress isn't getting to me when it's the worst and if it's up, taking a walk, going to the mall and changing the scene entirely.
By TAKING time off, an afternoon here, a morning there, nothing that looks like too much.
By WARNING the team I'll be gone so they can ask questions now, not later.
By knowing that LEAVING IS NOT BAD! It's GREAT!
I have a regular day job where I sit at a desk all day and the work is not really that stressful. I always have great numbers during the week days. On the weekends, I am a church musician and play two services--one on Saturday night and one on Sunday morning. I love the job because it's a chance to play music, but it's tough on the blood sugar. Being a musician and playing live music, you have to be "full-on". It's basically a dialog between me and the pastor, with 200 other people listening in. There's no day dreaming in church for me. The timing needs to be good, I want it to sound good, I am in charge of other people who are there to sing and play with me. If something goes amiss with the music, it's me who will answer to the pastor for it. I could walk into church with a blood sugar of 100 and walk out of there two hours later with a blood sugar of 350. I have seen it happen. What do I do about it?? There's no way to avoid the stress. It's an adrenaline situation so that's going to raise blood sugar even if things are going great. I have learned that I have to take 5 to 10 units of short acting a half hour before each service. It's like bolusing for a meal when I'm not actually going to eat anything. The good news is that I have been doing this job for years and I have it pretty well figured out. I don't now anyone who lives a completely stress free life. You just have to learn to deal with it as best you can either by doing some kind of relaxation technique or just making an adjustment of medication.
