I Wish I Had Understood Stress and Gratitude When I Worked Full-Time

At least it’s helping me now

Photo by Resume Genius on Unsplash

Have you noticed that some people are more prone to stress than others?

Do you sometimes wonder where your stress and anxiety come from?

As someone who continues to suffer stress and overwhelm even in retirement, I wanted to find out why.

I retired in 2019 after working for 42 years in retail banking. It was a successful career that I enjoyed most of the time.

Sometimes, though, I felt so stressed and overwhelmed that I would develop a twitch in one eye. Luckily, I never got to the point of burnout, but I came close.

• I would get behind with work and spend weekends catching up.
• The last day of any time off was spent reviewing my emails.
• I often started work at 4 am at the kitchen table.
• Getting to work an hour early was normal.
• I stayed in the office late and worked another hour in the evening.

I wonder if I was a top performer because I was good at my job or because I worked so many hours.

Now I am retired, I have nothing to stress about. And yet… I still do.
I stress when I don’t meet a goal I have…