Problems at home or at work, money worries and sudden life events can often lead to stress. Someone is particularly likely to feel stress if they’re experiencing a number of life problems at the same time.
Some possible causes of stress are:
- big life changes or major emotional upsets such as bereavement, getting married or going to University
- pregnancy or becoming a parent
- losing your job, redundancy or long-term unemployment
- difficulties in personal relationships such as family arguments or divorce
- living or working in a hostile environment
- caring for someone
- sickness or other health issues
- debt or housing issues or struggling to pay bills
- crime, harassment or bullying
- feeling isolated or unsupported
Personality can sometimes play a factor in experiencing stress. What may be stressful to one person may seem a positive challenge to another person or just not a matter of concern to another.
Healthcare practitioners have identified the following set of characteristics which can make it more likely for someone to experience stress. If you recognise a majority of these characteristics take particular care of your wellbeing.
Feels pressure to perform
- Very competitive and driven.
- Everything needs to be perfect.
- Very work-focused – few social interests.
Feels pressure to complete
- Impatient – doesn’t like to wait or take pleasure in doing something at leisure.
- Tendency to take work home and finds getting a work/life balance difficult.
- Needs to get everything finished.
Difficulty waiting or relaxing
- Likes to do more than one thing at once.
- Talks quickly and does everything at speed.
- Never relaxes – always on the go and can’t sit still.
- Always early for appointments.
- Interrupts other people when they are trying to talk.
Difficulty managing feelings
- Doesn’t express feelings.
- Impatient with others’ feelings.