Stress, procrastination and coping strategies

Whenever you walk into my office, it is only normal for one of your colleagues to offer a nice smile and greet you with a quasi-rhetorical question like, “hi how are you?” The enculturated side of me (after spending eight years in Australia) tells me to retort with “not too bad thank you, how are you? (often without the faintest interest in the other party’s well-being)” or perhaps follow through to spark a small conversation talking about how cloudy the day is unlike twenty minutes ago. But no, the Singaporean blood in me will attempt to redefine what is deemed as socially appropriate and reply with some negative remarks like “I’m stressed” or “I’m just surviving”, or “I’m dying”, or “I’m tired, haven’t had enough sleep.”

My closest friends will take my retorts with a pinch of salt knowing that Singaporeans have a strange tendency to paint the sky grey being the only way we know how to be friendly. However, the locals here will often struggle with a reply because they are not used to communicating with a being of pure pessimism. I stand out like sore thumb in the social arena.

Talking about stress, there are actually three types of stress in my area of work. Type A stress is the kind of stress where you know what you are supposed to do, but you know that you are going to struggle to get it done. Type B stress is where you simply have no idea what to do. Type C stress is when you are stressed over the fact that you are not stressed enough.

I spent the first ten months in my work experiencing type C stress. Life was just too good and you know it when you have plenty of sleep before you start the day off (usually at 2pm, half an hour after you have woken up). I used to say that if I was my own boss, I’ll sack myself. Type C stress is a bitch, because your guilt will kick in to create unwarranted tension and hence accrued stress. The only coping strategy to approach type C stress is through cognitive reasoning; that the feeling of aimlessness is part and parcel of being productive. It is true. Through participative observation, it appears that in order to have half an hour of effective work done, there must be some ritual undertaking of surfing the web, reading news, reading blogs, reading freindster accounts, and reading news again before the ‘work’ can take place. This ceremonious behaviour is better known as procrastination. But once you are able to appreciate that procrastination is an honest prerequisite of work, the guilt subsides and type C stress is conquered.

However, the days of type C stress are over. I’ve moved beyond my first milestone and now left with a clear direction as to where I am heading. I know that I’m on the right track, except I suspect that I may be moving the wrong way. A hybrid of type A and B stress kicks in. My shoulders are sore from the tension and the stiffness in my neck is not allowing my head to turn left; not too dissimilar with Zoolander.

A professional massage beckons.