Stress
Stress is a persistent factor of our modern times I think. I have been under a good deal of work related stress for the last couple of weeks, due to a looming deadline and the general ratcheting up of the pressure to meet the deadline. On a personal level the peak of the stress of about two weeks ago - I am actually now on the downhill side of it.
But, precisely because I am on the downhill side of it and have let loose a little of the tight control that is necessary to succeed in a high stress environment (at least in my experience), the pressure of the stress has been popping up and popping out in the last week.
For me, one of the signatures of stress relief is a disproportionate reaction to an external stimuli. Two things hit my stress triggers pretty hard this weekend. On Friday, a technician from Comcast, changing out a junction box, disconnected my cable. I was really ticked off - disproportionately. I understand that things happen - people make mistakes. I could see the stress trigger firing and so went for a walk and then curled up with the book I am reading (Killshot, by Elmore Leonard) and got a good night sleep.
Saturday was a good day, an enjoyable day, and I went to sleep about ten thirty Saturday night. Then, I woke up about four AM Sunday morning and I was...ticked...off. At nothing. No specific reason, no specific trigger. Just a good general all purpose ticked off. I took a hot shower. I went for a two mile walk. I got a cup of coffee and a donut at the Maple Leaf Donut Shop. I came home. I came online. Then...I went back to sleep for three hours.
Once I woke up for the second time, after I hit the reboot button of the day, I was far better. I spent a lazy day around the apartment. I chatted online. I listened to music. I watched some cable TV. I read a little. I practiced my guitar. In short, I kept in low and slow through the day. In the early evening I went out for dinner with my friend Tony, to Frankie, Johnny & Luigi II. I had the rigatoni. I followed it up with a slice of carrot cake.
I am sliding into the last two weeked of this project - user acceptance testing - perhaps one of the most stressful portions of any project. I've cleared my work schedule. I will be focusing entirely on it for the next 12 days or so. I am confident that we will come through the period well - the application is solidly designed and has already been through extensive testing. We've got about 30 known bugs going into UAT, but only three of them are of any real consequence. I don't expect the UAT test team to find any major defects.
But I will fret it and worry it and nuture it and curse it through the UAT period. I am sure I will vent out some stress between here and there, disporportionally, at minor things. Then, I am going to take a mini-vacation. I need bright lights and the company of strangers and late nights and soft hotel beds and room service. Then of course, I will do it all again.
I can say something about my work that not a lot of folks seem to be able to - I love my job and I love the people I work with, even with the stress.
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