Stress is a normal part of life. It comes in many forms and affects people of all ages and all walks of life. Even so, the experience of stress is highly personal. What constitutes overwhelming stress for one person may not be perceived as stress by another. Likewise, the symptoms and signs of poorly managed stress will be different for each person. How we react to stress varies from individual to individual and our response impacts on our physical and emotional well-being. Depending on our response, as well as how we relate to our environment, we can experience negative, neutral or positive outcomes from stress. It can affect every aspect of our lives including our physical environment, our work, our relationships, our home life, our health, our fitness and our emotional well-being.
It’s a reasonable assumption that in the setting up of any successful business, consideration be given to handling work-place stress and fatigue when it occurs amongst the employees and practitioners working within that business. Strategies should be in place to ensure that the employer be alert to signs of stress, fatigue or distress in their employees. It is then they can offer the appropriate and necessary support required to reduce the physical and psychological demands and facilitate recovery for that person. This can assist in maintaining a safe working environment and potentially protect business viability.
But what of a situation when the stress experienced relates to the owner and operator of the business? What strategies are needed when circumstances both unwelcome and unexpected occur directly to the sole owner of the business who is then placed in a vulnerable professional, psychological and financial situation whilst the ‘stress’ is being dealt with.
In the following few paragraphs, I have written of my own deeply personal experiences of a stressful time in my life, in the hope that my story may encourage other studio owners or managers think about how they could best manage a similar situation should the unthinkable occur.
2009 was a particularly stressful year for me. I moved from the family home that my husband, three children and I had lived in for 30 years, completed a major renovation project in our new home, including building and outfitting a Pilates studio, went through all the planning permit applications necessary to gain approval for a home owner/occupied business, enrolled in the Advance Diploma of the Pilates Method, opened the business, planned and attended my beautiful daughter’s wedding in Melbourne, received news that my Mother had died the same night and a week after her funeral, I was diagnosed with breast cancer!
To declare this a stressful period in my life is something of an understatement and it profoundly affected my physical and emotional health, my relationships, my fitness, and, most particularly, my business.
I felt overwhelmed by these traumatic events and the interruption they presented to my normal daily routine. l experienced a number of physical and emotional symptoms. Shock, anxiety, changes in appetite, weight loss, sadness, reduced energy, labile emotions and an inability to make decisions and/or concentrate were most noticeable as I came to terms with all these events and the diagnosis. These symptoms lasted for nearly six weeks and were exacerbated further by the effects of the medical intervention necessary to fight the cancer. Six months of treatment including two lots of surgery, three months of chemotherapy and six weeks of daily radiotherapy. I lost control of my diary, with frequent scheduled and some unscheduled medical appointments, scans, blood tests, x-rays etc. Adding insult to injury, I also suffered from total hair loss, extreme nausea, sensitivity to smells and overwhelming fatigue – a veritable cocktail of stress!
The result of this stress not only affected my emotional and physical health, it also impacted greatly on my family, my friends and my work. I briefly entertained the idea of continuing to teach clients as much and as often as was possible, only to discover that I was in no condition to teach for much of the time I was having treatment.
As I am the sole operator of my Pilates studio, there were no management strategies in place in the event of accident or illness. There are few Pilates instructors in my area and in any case, during the early stages of operating my business I was bound by the terms of my planning permit which specifically disallowed employing or sub-contracting to another practitioner unless they reside on the premises.
Needless to say, being unable to work at times during my treatment contributed greatly to my stress. Luckily, my client base was small and all my clients were understanding and happy to be accommodating and flexible with the rare times I could work. These few hours where I was able to work, helped me regain some sense of achievement, purpose and control. For the rest of the time, clients were happy to either ‘wait it out’ until I had finished treatment, or take sessions with other practitioners working in the area. I’m grateful for the support I received from other Pilates teachers and delighted that every single client was handed back to me in excellent shape once news got about that I was back in business! It’s comforting to know that loyalty is prevalent in our small Pilates community.
But it wasn’t just the impact on my business that sent the stress levels into the stratosphere…
Motivation generally took a battering. Many tasks and activities that hitherto had been easy to achieve, became onerous if not impossible. In simple terms, it all became too hard and on many occasions I had to cancel or delay those activities – even enjoyable ones – which formed a normal part of my day.
The major result of all this was one of frustration and disappointment in myself and with this came more stress. Having been a person who took pride in being in control, in achieving at a high level and in shouldering many extra responsibilities outside and above the normal family commitments, I found the sick role a hard act to stomach and experienced a considerable dip in self-esteem. Added to this was the physical distress at becoming bald and feeling unwell and fatigued for prolonged periods of time.
It was a particularly wearing, tedious and unpleasant experience!
On a positive note, the amount of support I received from my husband, my immediate and extended family, my friends, colleagues, medical practitioners and even my clients was a great boost to morale. Their support improved my confidence and helped a great deal in my accepting the situation as a temporary set-back rather than a permanent one.
Having such positive family and social support also helped enormously in reducing the level of stress that I experienced. Walking as much as possible, particularly on Mount Wellington and listening to music, were two other positive distractions that I engaged in to relieve stress – physically as well as emotionally. Also, having access to the best that modern medicine could offer whenever it was needed and at practically no cost, was another important factor in reducing my stress levels. I am confident that I received excellent medical treatment and feel reassured by my oncologist’s expressed expectation I will make a full recovery.
This meant that all I had to worry about, once the treatment finished, was to become fit again, stay well and get right back to business! This has become my major objective. Secondary to that has been to pick up the pieces of all the other aspects of my life: to go bushwalking, to sing, to travel again and to once again indulge in the enjoyment I feel when teaching and practicing Pilates.
It is pleasing to report that within weeks of ending treatment, most if not all of the negative symptoms I experienced have disappeared, my small business continues to thrive, as do my energy levels, my humour, my health, my sense of well-being and my hair!
Mary McArthur – PAA Secretary
Comments are closed.