Stress-Less At Work, with Jacqueline Lopez

Jacqueline Lopez, a graduate researcher at the University of Nevada, Reno, discusses the impact of stress on mental health and work performance. She emphasizes the importance of time management, setting realistic goals, and creating boundaries between work and personal life to manage stress. Jacqueline highlights the role of mindfulness practices, social support, and self-care in reducing stress. She also addresses the negative effects of unmanaged stress, such as burnout and physical health issues. Resources like Headspace, Calm, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness are recommended for stress management. The conversation underscores the need for transparency with supervisors and seeking professional help when stress becomes overwhelming. To learn more, visit AVID.org/alumni.

Transcript

Jacqueline Lopez 0:00

Stress is the body's natural response to pressure or challenges. It can be short-term, helping individuals stay motivated and productive so that they're still doing that work, or it can be chronic, where it leads to exhaustion and burnout.

Dr. Aliber Lozano 0:16

Welcome to Avidly Adulting, the podcast where we tackle the wild ride of transitioning into your first career and all of the life lessons in between and beyond, when life and career merge into adulting.

Dr. Aliber Lozano 0:34

Welcome to Avidly Adulting. "Stress Less at Work" is the name of our episode today. I'm your host, Dr. Aliber Lozano, Head of Teaching and Learning and Lead of Alumni Services. Welcome to part one of our mental health series. In part one, our topic is going to be stress.

I'm one of those people that always says I work well under stress. In fact, I thrive under stress. But as I'm talking to Jackie, our guest today, she's like, "Do you really? Have you thought about what stress does to you and your body, and what stress does for the rest of your work and at home?"

Jacqueline Lopez 1:18

So we're going to welcome Jackie, because we're going to be exploring this topic today. Jackie Lopez is an AVID alumni who works as a graduate researcher at the University of Nevada, Reno, with the College of Science in the clinical psychology department. She's also a PhD student in clinical psychology. Welcome, Jackie. Let's get started to know you a little bit better.

Dr. Aliber Lozano 1:45

How did AVID help you become the professional you are today?

Jacqueline Lopez 1:50

Yeah, so AVID was really the core resource that I used throughout high school. I was in AVID for four years, from my freshman to senior year. Whether it was joining tutorial groups, learning how to take my notes, binder checks, applying for scholarships, or just preparing for the SATs, the strategies I learned—whether it was time management, relying on my peers for support, or being able to ask questions for help—I've been able to carry that throughout my work, especially now in grad school, where it's really difficult to manage time and just manage the many work things that you have.

But I would definitely say that AVID was very foundational in how I am, not only as a student, but as a human being as well.

Dr. Aliber Lozano 2:37

Great. Do you remember being stressed when you were in AVID?

Jacqueline Lopez 2:42

Yeah, I remember my freshman year. My teachers changed throughout, but my freshman year we had... she was a really great teacher. She was really strict, but I really appreciated that, because that class my freshman year set me up for the rest of my years. Whether it came to just having my notes ready, my binder completely organized, my work done, my grades on point—whether it be straight A's or just A's and B's—it was a stress. But I think what I learned from AVID definitely rippled into where I am now, which is in graduate school.

Yeah, change and managing change is stressful, no matter where you are in your college career and life journey and school journey. As we talked about your role in AVID now, you already mentioned how some of those skills have come with you. They're durable skills that are applicable to your job as a researcher and to your continued studies as a PhD student.

So, Jackie, tell us a little bit more about your full-time role, and I want you to tell us the specialties that you're focused on when you're thinking about clinical psychology.

Yeah, so I'll start with my specialties first, and then explain more about my role. So, my research interests are based on parent-child relationships, Latinx mental health, dissemination, and implementation science.

My role here as a graduate student researcher—I'm a student and a researcher, but I also do clinical work here in the program. As a researcher, I'm working on any side projects, whether it be my comprehensive exams, any other side research projects, my dissertation at the moment as well. I tend to focus more on parenting within Latinos, especially bringing in that Spanish-speaking aspect. I find that really important. It's something that we need now, especially just being able to find a psychologist that is Spanish-speaking—that's still a gap we're trying to close.

But in regards to the research that I do, this is what I am, is in my position, and it's something that I enjoy doing a lot. But I would say that within my position as well, I'm doing other things too: outreach, connecting with the community, taking classes, taking exams, working with my PI. So I do a little bit of everything, which helps me inform my research.

Dr. Aliber Lozano 5:12

Got it. You mentioned PI? What's PI?

Jacqueline Lopez 5:16

So my PI is the Principal Investigator, so it's my mentor, someone I do research under. She's able to inform not only my clinical work, since she's also my supervisor for that, but also when it comes to research, any grants I'm working on, they're under her. So she's able to manage things that I'm doing here at UNR.

Dr. Aliber Lozano 5:39

Great. For our subscribers, we know that having a mentor is great in all aspects, and you're going to talk about, perhaps, how having a mentor helps us stress less while at work. I like your areas of specialty. Many of our subscribers are parents in their first and second year of their careers. So, how do we talk about work-life balance when it talks to that?

So, let's get into today's topic, stress and how to stress less while at work and in our lives. Jackie, we've been talking about this, and in preparation, I listen to music to stress less sometimes, amongst other things, and the song "I Am Not Okay," which is sung by Jelly Roll, comes onto the radio, and it really emphasized the need for mental health. This series and our focus for today—you talked about helping parents in your specialty, and helping even communities underserved, where mental health is needed, but also mental health is a large stigma. We've gotten some place where it is healthier to talk about it, but we're just not there yet.

Going back to the song, it really resonated with so many. It's been number one, and it continues to play on the radio because so many are having stress as part of some of their mental health side effects, or what they're going through. So I'm glad that we're talking here and we reduce some of the stigma. I'm happy that you're a student and a practitioner in this area to help us.

What does it mean to stress less at work, and what are some of those tools? Help me define, help us all define what stress is and how it typically shows up in the workplace.

Jacqueline Lopez 7:27

Yeah, so stress is the body's natural response to pressure or challenges. It can be short-term, helping individuals stay motivated and productive so that they're still doing that work, or it can be chronic, where it leads to exhaustion and burnout.

In the workplace, stress often manifests as a difficulty concentrating. We sometimes feel irritable. We have fatigue or headaches, or even physiological and physical symptoms like muscle tension. It can also impact our interpersonal relationships and job performance, which can lead to decreased productivity and engagement within the workspace.

Dr. Aliber Lozano 8:05

Yeah, we're getting on the same page of stress. You've defined it where it's physiological or psychological. I'm stressing about it, so it's in my head, and my body is reacting. As you said, my shoulders are really tense and tight. And there can be some other effects that we have, which is increased heart rate. But it shows up in many ways, especially in work.

How can professionals in their first or second year, how can some of these triggers be mitigated as I'm trying to manage deadlines and navigate my workplace environment?

Jacqueline Lopez 8:46

Yeah, so within your first two years being in the workforce, early career professionals often face stress due to high expectations, having sometimes different learning curves, imposter syndrome, and performance pressure. Even that uncertainty when it comes to job security or adapting to a new workplace or culture, and even balancing work-life responsibilities contributes to stress during this transitional phase.

And some effective strategies for this would be time management skills. I often rely a lot on my Outlook or Google calendar when it comes to just being able to have my deadlines set and ready. Setting realistic goals, so having the appropriate timelines for work requirements and just being able to hold yourself accountable to that, and then creating boundaries between work and personal life is really important. So being able to recognize when you feel overwhelmed, and being able to speak to your manager or your colleagues about how you can decrease your workload.

Some other effective strategies for this can be implementing regular breaks. So, sometimes taking a five-minute break after doing 25 minutes of work. I personally use—is when it comes to either my study sessions or when I'm doing work in the lab—there's this app called Pomodoro, which I use, and it includes some really fun ways to set a timer. Also doing mindfulness exercises. So any mindfulness practices that you're really into would really help. I know here within when we do our clinical work in groups, we do a practice called "leaves on the stream," which requires being able to have an imagination to practice this technique, but it really helps someone calm down and bring themselves to a square-one phase.

And then also seeking social support, whether it be your friends or peers. I know I talk to my best friend every day about literally anything, and I also talk to my friends who are on their own graduate school journeys on the East Coast, so they're able to provide a lot of support and able to understand my stressors when it comes to grad school.

Organizations can also contribute to being able to foster that positive workspace and that culture that we tend to look for when we are under stress. So, as of right now, I'm the president for a club here on campus called the Women of Color Collective. So we are a space where we're able to provide a safe, emotional, and social support for Master's and PhD students on campus or grad students. So, being able to implement practices like that, finding the space or a club where you're able to de-stress, but then also implementing effective strategies like time management, setting realistic goals, but then also creating those boundaries, is really important for that work-life balance.

Dr. Aliber Lozano 11:41

There's a lot to unpack in what you said, and a lot of tools. And I want to take the first three that you said, time management, setting realistic goals, and then creating boundaries between your work and your personal life are some steps to ease into managing stress.

When I highlight also the imposter syndrome, when it's my first and or second year in the job, I may feel a little overwhelmed, like, "Did I make the right decision? I don't belong here." I start to lack some of the confidence. And I just want to put a plug in for one of our other podcasts, "At Hours The Air," that does talk about the imposter syndrome, especially for first-generation college goers who are in career, or this is the first career that a member of your family has had, so you don't have the networks that you can rely into.

So I like some of the other activities that you said could help, like mindfulness. I too have done the "leaves in the stream," where you start to picture that leaf just flowing down a calm stream, and it goes back to what you said. If stress is both psychological and physiological, so it shows up in your body, then focusing on that leaf, then you're making your mind, and then you're shifting your body, and so it takes away from those stressors or that stress that's coming at you.

Lastly, before I come to the next question for you, is this: talking about mindfulness. Jackie, you and I talked about this. Sometimes we get the question about mindfulness and or meditation. We're defining stress right here. We'll define mindfulness and meditation maybe in the future, part three of a mental health series. But I get the question, especially for those who are religious, "Is mindfulness or is meditation against my religion?" And so Jackie and I have already been on the same page as: When in doubt, ask your religious leader. They will know best. So we don't want anything to be in conflict and add more stress into what you're trying to stress less at work and at home. So when in doubt, ask your religious leader if the practices of mindfulness and or meditation are within what your religious leader would recommend as you try to get healthier. It's a good healthy way to approach things.

So what happens, Jackie, if we don't start taking some of these healthy exercises and practices and behaviors and even thoughts to mitigate stress? What happens if we don't know what the triggers are and we underestimate or they go overlooked?

Jacqueline Lopez 14:46

Yeah, so sometimes, when workplace dynamics, they tend to add on to these stress levels we encounter. Having difficulties with our manager, which can lead to lack of communication, micromanagement, or just having those unclear expectations, which also add on to anxiety. Having those deadlines also adds pressure, especially when workloads are heavy and unclear, and you tend to feel unsupported and struggling with office politics, which can further elevate stress.

And when these specific triggers tend to go unnoticed, such as like digital overload, so just having constant emails, notifications, and after-work hours expectations. Another overlooked factor is the lack of psychological safety, which is when employees don't feel comfortable expressing their concerns. This may suppress their stress, which can lead to long-term emotional strain. It can even lead to social isolation, even in team settings, which can also contribute to stress without it being immediately recognized.

Dr. Aliber Lozano 15:51

Thank you. I think when we're not working with stress or managing stress, and you've shared some examples already, then it could build up to where it may become even more unmanageable. But even when it's more unmanageable, we always recommend that you seek help from your people and culture, your HR department, because there are benefits to your employment that can help you manage stress, and also to seek the counsel of any medical professionals that are in your life that come through your work. So as we're sharing some tips, make sure that these tips also fit with your lifestyle.

We've talked about possibly some breathing techniques as you're feeling stressed. We always say nobody likes to do public speaking, or very few people do. But when you are to take a deep breath and start breathing slowly, and so I do a 7/11, which is take a breath for seven seconds, hold it, and then release for 11 seconds. For the sake of time, you'll get better at it, but you're doing what Jackie has told us to do. It's both then doing something psychologically and physiologically to manage stress. And if you listen to yourself taking the breath in and out, then you're focusing your attention to that.

You talked about your manager, and so it is stressful when I'm setting realistic goals. One of the ways to mitigate stress—what if my goals aren't aligned with that of my manager? How do I work in a healthy way to mitigate stress with my supervisor and or my peers, my coworkers?

Jacqueline Lopez 17:41

So I think having that transparency is key, but then also reframing the conversation constructively is also an essential part of just being able to work with your manager. So if you ever communicate your stress with your supervisor or your colleagues, sometimes reframing it in a healthy way would help. So instead of saying, "Oh, I feel overwhelmed," maybe we can try to restate it as, "Oh, I'm currently managing a high workload, and I want to make sure that I'm meeting expectations effectively. Can we discuss priorities or resources that may help with that?" So being able to communicate that early prevents stress from escalating, and also leads to examples of problem solving as well.

Dr. Aliber Lozano 18:26

Nice. And I think that's a good way. You mentioned having full transparency and being vulnerable can help mitigate some of the stress while at work, especially as you're trying to not have social isolation in your first or second year, when you're trying to build that work community, and you're trying to build that network so that you just don't do your work alone. You also can ask for help and not be alone, especially in stressful situations.

Jackie, I don't know about you and about our subscribers, but just like I said, I usually work really well under stress, and I thrive under stress. Sometimes I'm saying that with a mouthful of chips and sweets. My behavior during stressful times, I notice, is that I resort to indulging behaviors, like eating unhealthy foods more often and more of them. And even sometimes, talking about something that's common in our culture, and a phrase in our culture is, you know, having an adult beverage is, "Let's go have a drink after work." Does this sound familiar to you, and how can we notice it and make good choices once we notice what stress is doing to us, whether it's indulging in eating and drinking behaviors or other things that we should not indulge and take into moderation?

Jacqueline Lopez 20:00

Yeah, so I recognize these behaviors. Stress can lead to a lot of emotional eating or just having excessive caffeine intake or alcohol consumption, which can also disrupt sleeping patterns. Physiologically, it can trigger headaches or digestive issues and chronic fatigue. And behaviorally, it can also cause irritability or cause you to withdraw from social interactions, and then it could also lead to procrastination.

So recognizing these patterns is important to be able to develop healthier coping mechanisms, and being able to practice that self-care outside of the office in order to mitigate work stress is really important. So self-care is essential when it comes to stress management: either doing regular exercise, having that adequate sleep, nutritious eating, or engaging in hobbies that create resilience against the workplace stress are important. Having strong social connections and being able to maintain personal boundaries between work and life can also enhance your well-being, so having restorative routines like reading, meditating, or spending time outside, going outdoors, which can also prevent chronic stress accumulating.

Dr. Aliber Lozano 21:14

Great. I love even a state change, right? You said earlier, leave your screen or leave your office, leave your workspace for five minutes. Even those of us that are working from home, having that state change really helps provide healthy behaviors.

Jackie, as we think about what role does self-care outside of the office that you just described play in mitigating stress at work?

Jacqueline Lopez 21:44

Yeah, so when we practice our self-care strategies at home, it helps decrease the stress we see at work. So just being able to take care of yourself and doing things that are good for your own body can have that ripple effect into spaces like the workplace. So, like I mentioned earlier, just that regular exercise, being able to have that adequate sleep and eating well, as well as being able to do things outside of the workplace, can help prevent chronic stress from adding up later on.

Dr. Aliber Lozano 22:17

I know, I like... we talk about regular exercise, and we just got to be assured that it's regular exercise for you. And there are many forms. We defined stress earlier, as how we can define exercise. That may be walking for 30 minutes, that may be, for those of you that might be going to a gym or do group exercising or lifting weights or even stretching for 30 minutes, because, as Jackie reminded us, stress will show up physiologically, and it'll be in our shoulders and our neck. So what does it mean to exercise and at the same time stretch some of those side effects that we've gotten from stress? So choosing the best thing and making sure that what you do outside of part of your self-care is providing a work-life balance, so that you're not irritable, both to your peers and to your family.

That never happens to me. No one will tell you that I'm irritable, so I do have to watch my caffeine intake. But let's talk about help. And so Jackie, how can someone recognize when stress is becoming too much to handle alone?

Jacqueline Lopez 23:30

Yeah, so when stress interferes with our daily functioning, our relationships, or even with our physical health, it's a sign that we need that additional support. So sometimes, when we feel persistently anxious, exhausted, or disengaged from our work and our personal life, that could indicate signs of chronic stress.

Some red flags that can lead to seeking that help would be if we feel physical symptoms like headaches, stomach aches, or that muscle pain we were mentioning earlier, having that difficulty sleeping, those drastic changes in our appetite, feeling overwhelmed or feeling with that loss of motivation, having that cynicism or feeling detached from work, and then having that increased reliance on some unhealthy coping mechanisms. So being able to seek that support early on, whether it be from a mentor, HR, or a mental health professional, can prevent those long-term effects.

Dr. Aliber Lozano 24:29

Yeah, I've experienced the red flags when I recognize I was not recognizing that stress was too much to handle. At some point in my life, I was training for a triathlon. I was finishing up my doctoral studies. I had a full-time job. I was trying to manage my work-life balance and providing nurturing and caring my relationships outside of work with this busy schedule, and it became too much to handle, and I did have to seek medical help at that time. And at that time, it did require medication temporarily to get me through, and then it stopped, but it was always through observation and through medical attention to see when you continue and when you stop.

And we want to make sure that our subscribers know and hear that it's okay to reach out for help. It's great to have critical friends, because sometimes when you can't recognize you need the help, someone else that's close to you, that's a critical friend, will recognize that you need help for something that is part of mental health, which is stress. And we tend to say stress in the guise of other things. We're going to talk about other things in our mental health series, like anxiety.

But today, as we're finishing up this talk, Jackie, you talked about a resource you used earlier. Can you tell us some resources that we could use? Are there websites, a website you like to use, maybe an app or a hotline that you recommend for individuals who are dealing with stress, or what I identify as stress, and maybe something else less serious, or hopefully not more serious?

Jacqueline Lopez 26:18

Yeah, so some apps I'm familiar with are Headspace or Calm. I know Calm implements being able to listen to calming music, so it's a good resource for that. Some websites that are able to address these mental health concerns is the National Alliance on Mental Illness, so NAMI, as well as the American Psychological Association. And then some hotlines that I'm familiar with would be the national suicide prevention line, so 988, but then also in a workspace, being able to seek out Employee Assistance Programs which are available to many workplaces would be really important. And then even Crisis Text lines, so that you're able to receive that support from someone who is also able to help you with that as well.

Dr. Aliber Lozano 27:03

I think any one of those resources is a first step for those of us that are entering managing stress or and mental health, other mental health-related symptoms. Any one of those is fine.

I want to come back to what you said earlier in our conversation about finding a community and work peers. Many organizations have started Employee Resource Groups where you get together for like communities. There might be single parents, there might be work groups that are related to social economics or carpool or a particular demographic within the organization, and those help as well.

You mentioned the Calm app. Hopefully they listen to this and sponsor and donate to The Alumni Fund to help our AVID students get scholarships. But I have that app, Jackie, it's funny that you mention it, and the first thing that I do every morning when I look at the app to practice my mindfulness, it tells me to take a breath. So one of the things that we want to leave you with as we come to this conclusion of the first part of our mental series about stress is take a deep breath and listen to that breath, because then, as you're doing the physical part of it, taking a deep breath, then you get and you tend to then focus your attention, even if it is temporarily when something is stressful right now. Then take a right-now action of taking a deep breath and take any of Jackie's websites, whether there's NAMI or the Calm app, or any of the other hotlines that you would need to help first yourself, and sometimes when you recognize that someone else might need some help.

All of us want to learn more about mental health and how we can be more mentally fit. So we are planning a part two for this podcast and talk more about mitigating anxiety, so "Anxiety Less at Work." And we'll introduce that today by just talking about, Jackie, can you tell us what is the difference between stress and anxiety?

Jacqueline Lopez 29:27

Yeah, so stress is a response to an external pressure or demand which is usually linked to a specific situation and typically resolves once the stressor is removed. However, anxiety is more persistent and often occurs without a real or a clear trigger. Anxiety is characterized by excessive worry or restlessness, and that difficulty controlling thoughts which can impact our daily life, even in the absence of those immediate stressors.

Dr. Aliber Lozano 29:57

Yeah, I think one, either wrong or not, as I've been learning from you and learning from practicing mental health and getting some help, stress, to me, seems more, as you describe it, more temporary, right, and then smaller gaps of time to manage the different types of stressors or days or moments that I'm stressed, where anxiety tends to linger, both in my thoughts, psychologically and physiologically. And I can see the tension when I'm stressing my shoulders, but I can feel that hot, kind of tingly sensation of anxiety that tends to linger when I am more anxious about something, and that thought tends to take on a life of its own that's greater.

Jackie, if left untreated, what are some potential consequences of stress or anxiety that have on someone's career and well-being?

Jacqueline Lopez 30:59

Yeah, so untreated stress can lead to burnout, reduced job performance, and having strained professional relationships. Chronic stress and anxiety increase the risk of mental health conditions like depression or having sleep disorders and physical illnesses like heart disease or high blood pressure. And over time, when these are left unaddressed, they can lead to career dissatisfaction, frequent job changes, or even workplace absences due to health issues.

Dr. Aliber Lozano 31:33

And we're focused today on careers, especially those of us in our first, second career, but you can see how these topics are universal. When we are working 40 plus hours a week, we are spending that time at work, our waking time, most of it takes place at work. So take some of Jackie's advice to see how we can manage stress. We're going to go into part two in our another podcast, "Anxiety Less," to talk about anxiety.

So I want to thank you, Jackie, because you've shared a lot in managing stress and bringing many health benefits and life benefits when we do mitigate stress. Again, just to drill it home, if we can focus on one behavior or one tool to mitigate stress, what would that be?

Jacqueline Lopez 32:22

I think just being able to put yourself first, so practicing any of the coping mechanisms and strategies, so emphasizing a lot of that exercise, and just being able to recognize when you do feel stressed, and communicating that with either your mentor or your boss. Being able to implement that transparency is important too.

Dr. Aliber Lozano 32:43

Thank you, Jackie, for sharing your advice and your tools to mitigate stress. We look forward to speaking to you in part two of our mental health series, where we will be discussing anxiety.

Let's end this podcast how we started with Jelly Roll, and many of us hearing the song now in our head, "I Am Not Okay." I wanted to share this quote, this quote from Glenn Close. So we got Jelly Roll on one of my shoulders, that's kind of tense because I'm feeling stressed right now. And then we got Glenn Close on the other shoulder, which may be separate and opposites, but we are not alone, and it's okay not to be okay. And so Glenn says: "Stigma is probably the most relevant issue around mental health. It keeps people from getting help, and if more people were open to it, if more people talked about it, there would be more people getting help and more people who could become advocates."

So thank you, Jackie. I may work well under stress or say it, but we realize it's not healthy if I don't pay attention and get the tools to be mentally fit, to better manage it. Let's try to get a place where it is all right to not be okay, and to reach out for help. Jackie shared tools today that range from talking to someone, reading about stress, writing about stress and reflecting, exercising, and so much more.

Start or continue today to help yourself, and when you can, help someone else stress less. That's our time for today in this episode of Avidly Adulting, "Stress Less at Work." Be good today, because that's enough, and together, let's strive to be great tomorrow.

Avidly Adulting is powered by our AVID alumni and is brought to you by AVID. To learn more about AVID, visit our website at avid.org. If you are an AVID alumni, join our network at avid.org/alumni. Thanks for listening to Avidly Adulting. Join us the first and third Mondays of every month as we feature guests and topics to help you navigate your first career with laughter, insights, and life lessons, because adulting isn't just a job, it's an adventure.

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