Stress is such an overused word these days, so I thought it might be a good idea to explore what it means (especially since it is in the title of my blog).

Here are some definitions I found:

The Cleveland Clinic defines it as “the natural reaction your body has when changes or challenges occur.”

The World Health Organization defines stress as: “a state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation.”

And my favorite from Merriam-Webster:

“a state resulting from a stress.” (No help Merriam!)

Ignoring the third definition, the first two discuss two aspects of stress. The first is a bodily reaction to a perceived threat and the other talks about a “state” implying that stress is more of an ongoing issue. It is both.

The Cycle of Fear and Stress

You have probably heard of the fight-or-flight response. These are natural human reactions to threats in our environment that might put us in danger. Back in the day when humans were trying to stay alive in the wilderness, these responses would help us stay alive by either fighting creatures who were trying to eat us or running from them. We might also be fighting or running from other humans. (There is also the freeze response, not very helpful unless you are an opossum.) The fear response was needed to survive. Our brain releases stress hormones when we perceive a threat that increases our heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration, to help us get ready to go.

In our modern world, most people do not have the same threats. While humans can still be a threat, we have created new threats in our world: work deadlines, tests, scary movies, roller coasters, bosses. Our body has the same chemical reaction to these new threats as it did with the old ones. In the old world, once the threat had been vanquished, our bodies would go back to their natural state. Our new threats can be continuous (in highly demanding work environments for example), and our bodies are in a continuous state of fear/stress, which leads to chronic stress.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, chronic stress can lead to serious health issues such as exhaustion, headaches, high blood pressure, digestive problems, chest pain, muscle tension, aches and pains, and a weakened immune system. Mental and emotional symptoms of chronic stress are anxiety or irritability, depression, panic attacks, and sadness.

Here are the steps from fear to chronic stress:

• Step 1: The initial threat triggers a fear response.
• Step 2: The brain prepares the body by releasing stress hormones.
• Step 3: If the stress or fear is continuous, the response can become chronic.
• Step 4: In this state, fear and stress are interchangeable.

A story of fear and stress in a law firm

As I mentioned in my first post, I have worked in law firms for more than 30 years and have experienced the continuous demands and stress of that work culture. Here is an example story of a stressful event, that happened quite often. I also thought it would be fun to share what different stressors we had back then., before e-filing. This happened about 20 years ago in a large law firm in Portland, Oregon.

It was a Friday and a motion for summary judgment was due. For those of you who do not work in law firms, it is a document filed with the court that can sometimes get your client entirely dismissed from the case. There are usually multiple documents filed with the motion itself, such as declarations, exhibits, etc., all in an attempt to get a judge to agree to dismiss the case before it goes to trial. The deadline for filing this type of document was set in stone. If we missed the deadline, we could not file the document. This could mean a malpractice claim against the attorneys if they had a way to get a client out of the case and they did not do it.

Back in those days, e-filing did not exist. We had to provide a copy to all parties (or their attorneys) by mail or in this case, hand-delivery. No e-mail service was allowed, so you had to make sure all pages of this huge document (and its accompanying documents) were copied for everyone. That was part of the deadline. Luckily the courthouse was not too far away because we had to hand-deliver the document to the court as well. We also had to fill out these postcards for each document for the court to mail back to us as proof of filing.

Three attorneys (and their assistants) were working on the same document at the same time. Sometimes they would make changes to the same paragraph and it was hard to know whose changes to use. The senior partner made the final changes. Earlier in the day, the senior partner asked when we had to get the latest version so we had time to make copies for everyone and get it delivered on time. Knowing his habit of doing everything until the final minute, we gave him a final deadline 30 minutes before the actual time. Somehow he figured it out and did work up until the final minute.

When we finally got the last revision, someone put it in final and ran off to make multiple copies. We had prepared the other documents so they were ready to go. We were an assembly line as we stuffed all the envelopes for the court and all the other attorneys on the case. We missed the messenger’s deadline, so one of the attorneys ran the document to the court himself.

By some miracle, we were able to get the document filed with the court on time and all of the parties/attorneys were delivered their copies on time. Whew!

Can you determine the different fears that might release stress hormones in this event? The fear of not making the correct changes or missing the changes from each attorney. The fear of the upcoming deadline and missing it. The fear of doing something wrong so that it is kicked back by the court. The fear of not getting enough copies or not serving the other parties on time. The fear of getting fired if you did miss the deadline. The attorneys are also worried about the context of the document and whether it will work with the judge. They might also be fearing malpractice if they miss the deadline. All these different fears produced stress hormones in our bodies so we were in fight mode, getting this document ready to go. Many of us wanted to run. If any of us had gone into a freeze-fear response, then we would not have made the deadline.

These types of deadlines happen DAILY in law firms. Court deadlines, client deadlines, boss deadlines. We do not have to worry about running the document to the court like we used to or making enough copies, but there are still plenty of deadlines to worry about. It is hard to keep up, especially when it is a common battle. It is no wonder that many who work in these environments are experiencing chronic stress. It is not a lion chasing us, but it might as well be.

Do you have a workplace stress story you would like to share? Please leave a comment.