Living with stress

At a college reunion, everyone began boasting about promotions, new cars, and busy lives. Still, within minutes, the conversation shifted to stress, exhaustion, and the familiar Bangladeshi complaint that the country was draining them. Their old professor listened quietly and then went to make tea, returning with a tray of mismatched cups, some elegant, some plain, a few chipped. Everyone instinctively grabbed the nicest ones. The professor smiled and said that the cup never changes the taste of the tea, just as jobs, money and status don't define the real essence of life. When we focus too much on the cup, we forget to enjoy the tea. So, he encouraged them to breathe, slow down, and savour life the way they savour a warm cup of tea.

Stress in the workplace often behaves like Bangladeshi traffic. A little keeps things moving, but too much leaves you stuck, frustrated and wondering whether you chose the right career, the right boss or even the right planet. A modest amount of pressure can sharpen focus, spark creativity and prevent people from taking unnecessarily long tea breaks. Yet when stress becomes a daily companion, everyone slowly turns irritable, forgetful and suspicious that their laptop has developed a personal grudge. Productivity drops, tempers rise, and even the office plants begin to reflect the collective tension. In short, stress is useful in small, healthy doses but overwhelming and unproductive when it grows unchecked.

Global research shows how easily work stress slips into personal life. The American Psychological Association reports that more than 70 percent of employees admit that workplace pressure harms their relationships at home, making them impatient or withdrawn. Gallup finds that highly stressed employees are twice as likely to miss deadlines and three times more likely to start searching for another job. Deloitte adds that almost half of all professionals experience burnout that damages sleep, reduces family time and undermines overall well-being. The conclusion is unavoidable. Workplace stress rarely stays behind at the office. It travels home with you like an overenthusiastic intern who refuses to go away.

Stress is nearly impossible to avoid. It is as routine as load shedding, as unpredictable as sudden traffic and as common as office jokes about deadlines. You rarely know when it will strike, but you can safely assume that it will. The critical skill is learning how to respond. A small break often helps more than we realise. A simple cup of cha from the office canteen can refresh the mind far better than an elaborate motivational lecture. It also helps to find humour in the chaos around us. When deadlines seem impossible, remember that even major national projects took years, yet they still reached completion. Stress can also be turned into motivation. A little pressure sharpens thinking, improves discipline and forces you to complete tasks that have been postponed endlessly.

There was a time when my favourite stress reliever was returning home late at night, dropping my bag and hugging my three boys. Those few minutes washed away the entire day's pressure, even though my workaholic habits meant I received that relief mostly on weekends. Those moments are now memories, but they taught me something important. Stress does not always come from sources we can control. It may come from bosses, culture or the nature of the job itself. What we can control is how gently we absorb its effects.

Over time, I learned to avoid people and situations that create unnecessary strain. I often took my family for late-night drives or meals, sometimes from joy and sometimes from guilt. Eventually, I made a small personal method. I pause for a few minutes, breathe and observe what brings absolute comfort. Repeating this reveals a pattern, and that pattern becomes your personal stress reliever.

When stress insists on staying, the best response is to reclaim your peace. Find what heals you and hold on to it with intention.

The writer is president of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh and founder of BuildCon Consultancies Ltd