Faith, Hope and the World of Work Articles / United States Date: Mar 21, 2008 - 04:41 AM |
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If you collect a paycheck, your job may put demands on you that are, at times, quite unreasonable. For instance, you may be responsible for several task that are due at the same time. Or, a project might need to be done and you simply don't have the resources to finish same. Perhaps you're asked to conduct an ad hoc meeting for which you have no idea how to lead? What's one to do? I'll spend a few moments roughly detailing the monster project that I was in charge of, how it nearly consumed me and the method I discovered on how to solve the stress, anxiety and sleepless nights that were commensurate with this assigned responsibility. I was required to obtain raw numeric data from vendors that deal with my employer. The numbers had to be "massaged" into a very specific format for the recipient. The eventual reward for our endeavors was a certain dollar amount, which of course was very enticing to our organization. I noted that the reward was eventual very deliberately, folks. That's because the scope, cryptic instructions from the sponsoring entity and (granted) self-imposed pressure I put upon myself to complete this project practically brought me, both physically and mentally, to a virtual standstill. Now, that's a fancy way to state that I was just about paralyzed with mental and physical fatigue. My situation became so pronounced that I was forced to seek the services of a physician. Why? My ability to concentrate seemed to be non-existent. I was forgetting things, missing deadlines, not speaking to family members once I got home from work. What the f___! So, I needed to take a day off from work and take a little sojourn to the family physician. He spent a significant amount of time with me. In fact, my bride who had accompanied me said that the waiting room was filled solid with bodies, all waiting to see the white-coated, Porsche driving professional whose time I so selfishly garnered for myself. By the way, I easily spent over an hour with this guy in his office. Granted, this was my first visit to the guy. No more than about ten months ago we had moved to this new area and I had recently selected him as my PCP (primary care physician); I needed to relay to him family history, allergies and specific problems I was now experiencing. And so I splayed my saga out to him, specifically detailing the stress and anxiety I was under on my job. Guess what he attributed my problem to? Right...the aforementioned monster project I was in charge of! He predicted that as soon as the project was over, the stress and anxiety I was experiencing would dissipate, also. And now, flash forward to about a week or so ago. I finished the project, the job seems to be going better, and my thought process somehow is so much the clearer, But, how did I get through this trying time? Well, it wassimple meditation...in Church. You see, I go to work early in the moring, mostly so I can beat the rush hour traffic that builds and builds until it looks like a giant swarm of honey bees, buzzing and diligently performing their respective chores around their perfectly constructed row after row of hexagonal hive. I would make a very slight detour and stop at the Church, making my way to one of the last rows. It really made no difference where I sat, as there was only one or two other people in the place at that time of day. I'd settle down, zip up my coat 'cause I don't think the heat had been on too long by the time I arrived and closed my eyes. I'd then make peace with my Maker, acknowledging my place in his world, all the time letting myself relax into a very peaceful, very quiet state of mind. I wouldn't let anything disturb me, nor let my mind wander into such inane topics like follow up at work that was due or a certain monster project that was drowning me, slowly but surely. It was at that point I would simply remain in a "blank" state of mind, no letting extraneous thoughts filter in & destroy my peace. Somehow, my daily trips to the Church made my mind clearr, my thought process more precise, my ability to do my job a little easier. And, there were several "coincidences" that I believe were directly attributable to my visits to Church in the morning. But that's a topic for another day, folks. |
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