Is the Stress of Your Job Killing You?

Even self-employed people have issues when they are not happy.

Since I was 16 years old my life has been a party, literally! For two years previous, when I was 14 years old, I used my hobby to help people. I played records at sock hops, for free. I did not charge.

Before people used disc jockeys to entertain at parties people used live bands or orchestras or played their own records or turned on the radio to entertain their guests. Bands and orchestras took long breaks several times an event. The party died when the music stopped.

Before people used disc jockeys to entertain at parties people used live bands or orchestras or played their own records or turned on the radio to entertain their guests. Bands and orchestras took long breaks several times an event. The party died when the music stopped. I thought people would be happier if they had uninterrupted music, like at the sock hops.

I was a pioneer of the mobile disc jockey industry in New Jersey. It all started by offering my services ONLY during the time the band went on break. It evolved within a year to performing for the entire party.

Principles are formed by experience. I found that if I give people what they want, both the customer and I would enjoy the experience. I found giving people more value than they were expecting was very profitable. My customers told their friends about me. Those guests at the parties enjoyed themselves. They thought of me when they needed a Disc Jockey and told their friends.

When you do the right things, you do not need advertising to expand your business. Forty-nine years later, I do not need to perform because I need the income. I perform because I love when people appreciate me and give back positive feedback.

I also was employed as Paralegal, thirty years for the same firm. The company had a high turnover of employees. The job was very stressful for most, but not for me. While many employees did not last thirty days, I was at that job thirty years. I always made more money as a Disc Jockey. One job I was the boss, the other job I had a boss and a toxic environment that lead to a high turn over of employees. How one, in their own mind, accepts their circumstances determines if they will be stressed.

If you are tired of being pooped upon, get out of the drop zone, or you can become ill as the people in this article became ill. I experienced both being an employee and loving the job for thirty years and being self employed and loving the work for forty-nine, if you call having a party work. I could have left my employer years before like many other employees did, but I enjoyed helping people. I did not have stress because I had my own business if my employer told me to leave.

You may be unemployed and stressed because you cannot find a job. You may be employed and stressed because you survived a number of cuts, and you are handling departed from co-workers workloads while your employer cuts your benefits. I suggest you need to explore a path to get out of the drop zone.

My support team and I counsel people for free. We are not stressed because we have other options rather than letting an employer dictate our lifestyle and livelihood. We, ourselves choose if we have activity that produces income. We, ourselves believe we are valuable. We are not an expendable human resource.

We cannot help everyone, so we have a criterion for those we will help. Our judgment is not based on requiring a huge monetary investment. People in every demographic, young, old, educated, not highly educated, male, female, without bias to race or country of origin must meet certain requirements and are successful if they have integrity.

If you are stressed like the examples in this article, you need to explore your options. You may contact me Dave Mayo, at Mayoaid@aol.com if you need a guide to get you out of the drop zone.

Why not just tell the truth? Employers are not happy unless they can load one person down with the work of five to get the work of 5 for the price of 1! They beat up employees and have the guts to say,"Be glad you have a Job." What would employers do if they couldn't hold Health Care as another way to beat up their employees? GM said that Health Insurance was breaking the back of the corporation yet I didn't see any GM Reps trying to get the Congress to pass a Public Option during the Heathlcare Reform Hearing. Wall Street rules all,just ask Bernie Ebers the fall guy for Worldcom(he was just doing what
Wall Street told him to do). Wall Street sets the rules for how to run a business, NOT the "Government."

Certainly you have hit on a very essential, life focused and serious subject. Lightbulbs, chocolate and romance? That strikes me as funny advice and I have to admit that it may be time for me to read his book. I am sure it is based on science. I admit in 18 years as a career advisor I have not had chocolates, mood lights, lava lamps or romantic books available in my office but in "light" of this recession I may be willing to add these!

On a very serious level, I have seen the damages of stress on people, people literally killing themselves to climb the ladder, get or keep a job. Nothing is more important than health, your integrity and values. Nobody is perfect but if you compromise the foundation it really set you so far off the worklife balance to devastating results.

Keeping in mind what's important to you and what really not or should not be so important to you is critical. As much as I am an advocate of pursuing excellence in your job or your career I am not an advocate of killing yourself to do it.