I’ve been really stressed at work lately. Sometimes I tell myself I don’t really have a right to be stressed because I think many other people have more stress than I do. Like a man trying to earn enough money to feed his family, or a someone who is avoiding oppression or risks having his freedom taken away. All these situations are a lot more stressful than the work stress I face.
Nevertheless there are times when I do feel really stressed. The stress I normally face is with expectations. It’s when I ask myself… is this all I can do. Is this all I’m able to do… and then I get upset and try to push myself further. Today was one such day… when I feel that I haven’t given something my best… and so I felt stressed because I felt disappointed in myself.
I think different people have different ways of handling stress but generally the solution is either a place or a person. When stressed, some people go to a certain place that relaxes them… it could be the beach, a quiet cafe, the movies… everyone has their own. The person part of this is the person we talk to when we’re feeling stressed. It could be our friends, family or spouse.
My “place” so happens to be London. It’s weird and kinda expensive but it’s the one place that I feel I can let go. London does it well for me because it’s far away, so I feel away from my problems and at the same time because I studied there for 3 years, it feels like home to me. I don’t feel the additional stress or uncertainty of being in a foreign place.
My “person” is… well.. I have a few. My wife, my father, my family and even my friends.
Today after work I came home feeling really stressed from work. I felt like maybe I should make a trip to London or somewhere else to go away and clear my mind. One option was to go to Japan with Ming and Pierre who will be going next week but the only main problem for us is that if we travel we would have to leave Fighter behind. Something that both Shorty and I were uncertain if we could handle. Still because I was stressed I was determined to go away somewhere.
I walked into Fighter’s room to check on him and there he was sleeping in his cot like a cute little angel. As I always do, I bent down and catch a whiff of his hair. Then I gave him a kiss on his forehead. He lay there still sleeping soundly. Before I left the room I decided to give him one last kiss. I leaned down to him, lips just a few centimeters away from his forehead when his eyes suddenly opened wide. His watery eyes first caught sight of me then darted around the room as if trying to figure out how he got into the cot. Then after a journey back and forth, he eyes finally settled on me. Then he gave me a big smile.
That one smile melted away all my problems and stress for those few seconds. Fighter had made my day so much better without even trying. Immediately I felt like I didn’t have the heart to leave him to go on a holiday somewhere even to release stress. I guess we’re not going anywhere again.
I’m so blessed to have Fighter. I guess now I have another “person” to help me relieve my stress.
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space