My boss likes to ask me hard questions. It’s his thing. And, it’s a good thing because his questions often keep me from doing dumb stuff. He recently asked me to take a week and identify my stress indicators. In other words, what are the things in your life that when they pop up, you know you are stressed out. Why did he ask me this? Because, stress free people don’t burn out. We burn out in ministry because we ignore stress and act like we can handle it…until we can’t. And then, it’s too late.
So, what are my stress indicators? I’m glad you asked. Here you go:
WEIRD SLEEP
I’m sort of a ninja at sleeping, which is awesome for me and not so awesome for my wife. You see, we have 5 kids. She hasn’t had a full night of sleep in 10 years. Meanwhile, anytime she goes away the kids sleep all night. Or at least, I sleep all night. To be honest, I don’t really know what the kids do. All I know is that when I wake up at 6:00 am they are all staring at me. It’s kind of weird really.
Anyway, what I mean to tell you is that I’m a ninja at sleeping unless I’m stressed out. In stressful seasons, I have awful dreams and wake up in the middle of the night and then can’t fall back to sleep. It’s essentially the worst. Here’s a catalogue of the weird dreams I’ve recently had:
- I’m at church and someone asks me if I’m ready to preach. I totally forgot that I’m preaching. I wake up hyperventilating in a cold sweat.
- I’m at church and someone asks me if I’m ready to preach. I totally forgot that I’m preaching. I wake up hyperventilating in a cold sweat.
- I’m at church and someone asks me if I’m ready to preach. I totally forgot that I’m preaching. I wake up hyperventilating in a cold sweat.
As you can see, my weird dreams are directly related to work stress. It’s a stress indicator.
CRABBY DADDY
I’m not terribly proud of this stress indicator but it is a very clear sign that I’m running on fumes. I like to think of myself as a fun dad. I like to make my kids laugh, play with them and patiently listen to their 45 minute descriptions of what happened at elementary school recess. But, the truth is that when I am stressed out, I’m a total crab. I don’t listen well. I get irritated easily. I lose motivation to actually play with my kids. Crabby Daddy is a stress indicator.
FORGETFUL JONES
When I was a kid there was this character on Sesame Street named Forgetful Jones. His game was pretty simple: forget everything important.
I’ve noticed that when I’m stressed, I drop the ball. For example, when you get a call asking if you’re still going to show up and speak at the Baccalaureate service in 10 minutes and you totally forgot and don’t even know what you’re going to speak on (obviously, this is a story about someone else), you might be stressed out.
Normally, I have a pretty solid memory, but I’ve found that one of my stress indicators is forgetting important details.
STRESS INDICATORS
So, what about you? What are your stress Indicators? If you can’t identify them quickly, it might be worth asking people close to you what they are. You might be surprised by what you learn.
Also, what exactly do we do when it becomes clear that we are stressed out? My boss simply says, “Don’t keep doing the same thing. Do something different.” For him it might be as simple as changing the scenery. Adding a walk into his daily routine or holding a meeting outside.
Here are a few things that recharge me:
- Work from a coffee shop (I’m an outgoing introvert so productive alone time is like gold)
- Go off the grid (For me, a a day or two of not even getting out of my PJs will get me back on the right track)
- The Cottage (My aunt has a cottage in Northern Michigan. It’s literally the best. A weekend on the water cures just about everything for me)
Pay attention to your stress levels. The only people who burn out are those who attempt to run too long with too much stress. Pay attention to your indicators and act on them. Do something different or do something that recharges you. Your church, your ministry and your family need a healthy you.
image credited to Vural G. via Flickr
