1. Fashion Is a Stressful Business. How Is It Affecting You?
www.weteachfashion.com/blog/stress-in-fashion-business
coaching tools Feb 01, 2018
This is my first post for 2018 and the year has started off gray and somewhat miserable as
far as the weather is concerned. I'm looking for the spring sunshine to start soon and to
brighten things up all around.
My partner suffers a little from seasonal affective disorder, that condition of feeling blue and
down due to the lack of sunlight and bright days. He finds it takes the edge off the normally
happy disposition and air of positivity that he generally has.
He's not alone in this either. According to psychiatrist Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz:
"It's been shown pretty clearly that as daylight decreases, starting in the fall, people will have
more feelings of depression and anxiety. If they are feeling depression and anxiety they will
report stress."
I'm lucky. I work doing what I love and have the added benefit of being my own boss,
running my own business and managing my own diary to fit in with the needs of my family
and how I want to balance my life.
But it hasn't always been like that.
There have been times when I've been extremely stressed out. Juggling a career, bringing
up four children, managing the expectations that I felt I needed to live up to, placed upon
me by others. These have all in the past meant I've paid a heavy price.
And in particular, when I was much younger and eager to impress at university and my first
design job, I suffered from an acute period of burnout stretching myself to achieve as much
1/6

2. as I could. Top that with my known gravitas toward perfectionism and I was a stress
disaster waiting to happen.
Time to Take Stock of Your Life
It's at times like those when we need to take stock and ask ourselves how has my life
gotten out of balance? Why am I so stressed? Is all this effort really worth it? Is it time to
recalibrate my life?
Taking stock means first taking the step back and assessing your life overall. Assessing
each theme of your life (relationships, work, finances etc) and asking yourself the question
"Am I happy with this part of my life?" It's only by answering such questions will we ever be
able to objectively take stock of the way our lives are evolving, otherwise we'll end up like
that poor creature in the boiling frog syndrome.
I'll share with you in a minute or two a tool you can use to help assess your life and what to
do about what you find (or you can skip to the end of the post). But first I wanted to share
some points about stress in general.
Some Stress is a Natural Part of Life
We all live in a world of stress. It's natural and there's very little we can do to eradicate it
completely from our lives. What matters most is how we handle it. The best thing we can do
to prevent stress overload and the health consequences that come with it is to know our
personal stress symptoms.
By recognizing our symptoms we can then take action to do something about it.
Signs of Damaging Stress Levels in Your Life
2/6

3. Stress impacts us emotionally, physically, cognitively and behaviorally. I've listed below the
typical range of symptoms that are related to stress. Please don't wait until you have all of
these before you take action! Scan them and see how many you recognize in yourself or in
someone you know.
Emotional Symptoms of stress include:
Becoming easily agitated, frustrated, and moody.
Feeling overwhelmed, like you are losing control or need to take control.
Having difficulty relaxing and quietening your mind.
Feeling bad about yourself (low self-esteem), lonely, worthless, and depressed.
Avoiding others.
Physical symptoms of stress include:
Low energy levels.
Headaches.
Upset stomach, including diarrhea, constipation, and nausea.
Aches, pains, and tense muscles.
Chest pain and rapid heartbeat.
Insomnia.
Frequent colds and infections.
Loss of sexual drive and/or ability.
Nervousness and shaking, ringing in the ear, cold or sweaty hands and feet.
Dry mouth and difficulty swallowing.
Clenched jaw and grinding teeth.
Cognitive symptoms of stress include:
Constant worrying.
Racing thoughts.
Forgetfulness and disorganization.
Inability to focus.
Poor judgment.
Being pessimistic or seeing only the negative side.
Behavioral symptoms of stress include:
Changes in appetite -- either not eating or eating too much.
Procrastinating and avoiding responsibilities.
Increased use of alcohol, drugs, or cigarettes.
Exhibiting more nervous behaviors, such as nail biting, fidgeting, and pacing.
3/6

4. Stress in Fashion and What to Do About It
Is fashion more prone to stress than other fields? Probably not. It just gets perhaps more
attention because of the celebrity status and glamour attached to it and therefore gets
noticed more. But undoubtedly it is stressful whether you are in fashion education or
fashion commerce. Wherever you work, you'll know how stressful it can be and the impact
it can have on your physical and mental health, relationships and overall satisfaction and
happiness with life.
15 Simple Stress-Busting Tips
1. Focus on what’s important and ruthlessly prioritize. Get rid of the stuff that really
doesn't matter.
2. Share the load by delegating where you can. Don't do work that others should be
doing. Delegate. When you can't delegate, ask for help or eliminate the need for the
task.
3. Get more organized. Stress can lead to becoming disorganised so make sure you put
organization into your routine and organise your day including paper work, admin etc.
4. Set short-term goals you can reach and then celebrate success when you reach
them.
5. Be assertive and say no to further obligations and commitments. This will create
space in your life and take some of the pressure off.
6. Focus on the positive. Always look for the good in situations, others and yourself.
7. Laugh and smile with others. If necessary watch a funny video clip on YouTube or
instead of getting further bad news form your news network, tune into a comedy show
for some mood boosting.
8. Listen to music that energises you and lifts your mood.
9. Talk to a counselor or a friend.
10. Don't look for perfectionism. Things don't have to be perfect, “good enough” is often
4/6

5. fine enough.
11. Take a time-out for yoga, meditation, or mindfulness.
12. Get regular exercise. Find something you like doing that you can work into your
schedule.
13. Set aside some time, even 5 to 10 minutes, for yourself each day.
14. Leave for work 10 - 15 minutes earlier so you have a chance to get set up before the
day starts, phones start ringing and so on.
15. Learn to manage conflict well.
How Balanced is Your Work / Life?
OK, I promised a simple tool you can use to assess the themes in your life. Using a Wheel
of Life is a very useful technique for helping you consider each area of your life in turn and
to assess what's off balance. It gives you the chance to figure out where you need to pay
more attention to.
Like the boiling frog who found herself being cooked alive because she was unaware of the
rising water temperature, it's easy for us to have lives that evolve and before we know it
we're paying too much attention in some areas (too often work) and neglecting others
areas to their detriment. We end up missing out on dream opportunities or fulfilling our full
potential or even enjoying our lives at all because we lost sight of what's really important to
us.
5/6

6. Here's your chance to carry out your own wheel of life assessment and get a free coaching
session. Simply follow this link for further details and to access a copy of our FREE wheel
of life tool that you can use immediately. It comes with easy to follow instructions and can
be used over and over again.
Sign Up For Free Training to Get Started
Get our four FREE training videos to hep you get started and decide what steps to take and
what to teach. Watch online now.
Send Me My Videos
6/6