Stressful times at work

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At the moment, I work 32 hours per week at a web development company. We have too few people hired at the moment and this is causing my job to be very stressful. Also, my boss is on a holiday, and since it's only a small company I've basically got all responsibility now. I feel horrible and am ill at home at the moment (I suspect I feel sick because I feel nervous but it's nevertheless feeling sick), but I'm still on stand-by since customers might need my help and there is no one else to help them out. And in the afternoon I'll definitely need to go to work for a few hours since there's some files over there which I don't have at home and blah.

I've been thinking about quitting and try and get these "special benefits" (I live in Holland) but I don't think I'd become happy having no job prospects at all. I've also thought about swapping jobs but then again, I suspect any job will have its stressful times.

I'd like some support from anyone but all people say is "aahh jobs are stressful sometimes, you just gotta get through it, it'll pass" but it's been like this for a month now and I feel I'm on the very edge of breaking down. I don't know what to do. I feel I'm stuck and I feel there's no one in my direct environment who really understands.

Some mental support would be most welcome...

I've had some very stressful jobs in my time. And, I will say it, "aahh jobs are stressful sometimes". The most rewarding jobs are. With some jobs the stress never goes away. While it was not pleasant at the time, on reflection, some of the most stressful jobs that I have had have been the most rewarding and from which I have learned most.

I used to get very wound up about my work but I have, over the years, learned to cope. It is very difficult at first but it is possible to separate work from private life. It took me a while to master this but I am now able to consider work much like a game. Sometimes I win and sometimes I loose. I endevour to do my best with the time and resources available to me but do not get too wound up if I can't complete everything. I don't know if I have just been lucky but, by deliberately respecting myself and my private life, I learned how to say no and leave my worries at the work place. Saying that, I am working very long and often stressful hours, but I'm enjoying it.

From the brief description that you have made, you are doing your best to cope with inadequate resources. You appear to be taking on unreasonable responsibility. Your boss is unreasonable by taking leave when he/she knows that you do not have the recourses to cope. If you work yourself into the ground, it will eventually damage your health and your boss will have even fewer resources. In the meantime, if you are taking on unreasonable workload, your boss will have no incentive to hire more staff. After all it is/her job to get the most out of you and keep costs to a minimum.

To follow my advice is not easy but possible.
1) Make sure that you respect yourself. Work to live: do not live to work.
2) Treat work as a game as far as you can.
3) Don't get wound up when you loose and make the most of things when you win (give yourself a pat on the back)
4) Work to your best ability within your resource constraints. Use time management techniques to prioritise your work according to urgency and importance.
5) The part requiring the most effort. Keep a log of things that occur. Write down your successes. If you can't get everything done to your own satisfaction, make sure that you write down why (do this objectively without passing blame), write down what you did to try to resolve the issue and make suggestions to make sure that it will not happen again. If you have a reasonable boss he/she will appreciate this approach. If you do not have a reasonable boss, you may be better off finding a new job (There is nothing worse than working for a bad boss - except being married to one).

My advice is very simplistic and will not fit with everybody and every situation.

However you deal with this good luck.

Don't let them wear you down.

Thank you.

dont quit until u get a other job in hand.
because if you quit now there is no guarantee when u will get a job.

Hi, Daniella! I do feel your pain. I don't know if it's possible, but would it be feasible to reduce your hours somewhat? The boss will come back from holiday (thank goodness!), and will probably feel very grateful that you handled things as well as you did. However, if you secure permission to work fewer hours, there will be a need for him to redistribute the responsibilities amongst the other staff. There may be a co-worker there who is just champing at the bit to go into "middle management", LOL! I had to do this at my old job, moving from fulltime to part-time, and it reduced the pressue quite a bit. Other co-workers stepped up to the plate and did really well with their shot...amazingly, some people thrive on management positions! (For me, "management" is a sick-inducing work, but hey, it takes all kinds to make a world!)

At the very least, please consider talking to your boss about redistributing responsibilities, even if a work reduction isn't possible. And/or, talk to him about re-arranging your work schedule so you can have more recovery time between shifts. I couldn't handle the 5-day-a-week schedule, then switched to four ten-hour shifts with a day off on Wednesday for recovery, and that worked very well. Once I was out of debt, I could afford to work only 3 ten-hour shifts, and that was ideal for me. Good luck, Daniella!

I found it helpful in my rather high stress job to take 5 minute breaks every 2 hours or so... and spend those 5 minutes in a very quiet area where I could just close my eyes let go all that accumulated stress.

Also your scheduled work hours could be part of the problem. Im the kind of person that if I have to wake up before 10am I will be very upset the rest of the day. Im not a morning person at all. The few times my manager had me work early mornings she noticed I was like a different person..jekyll and hyde kind of thing haha. Late afternoon to late night shifts were perfect for me (and the office was quieter since they have low staff during that time).