- Are you tired, don’t feel like going to work or are you afraid or sad? This could be due to work-related stress
- Too much stress can make you sick. Sometimes, that will mean you can’t do your work properly
- Are you experiencing stress at work? Talk about it to someone you trust
- Take care of yourself. That can help reduce stress
- Are you experiencing a lot of stress? Then go to a counselor
Recognizing stress
Everyone has a bad day at work now and then. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing. But too much stress is not good. You can get sick. Sometimes, that will mean you take a break from work for a brief period or longer.
These are signs that the stress is a problem:
- You don’t feel like going to work at all
- You’re having trouble sleeping
- You worry a lot
- You are often afraid or sad
- You are easily irritated
- You are more forgetful
- You are unable to keep a good balance between work and your free time
- You often feel lonely
- You are using more drugs / alcohol than you want to
- You are often tired
- You don’t have a lot of energy for things outside your work
- You have headaches, heart palpitations, you sweat, you have neck and back complaints or stomach ache
Do you have one or more of these symptoms? Sometimes, you can do something about it yourself.
Relieving stress
Do you often go to work feeling stressed? This is what you can do about it:
- Talk about your complaints to someone you trust. This could be a friend or a care provider
- The doctor can refer you to a psychologist
- Think about why you are feeling stressed. That will make it easier to do something about it. Is it because of the work? The way colleagues act? Do you have money worries? Are you worried about your relationship? Or is there something else going on?
- Can you work less (for a while)? Then that might be a good idea.
- Think about things you can change in your work to make it nicer or easier. This could be a different work location or different working hours
- Are there services you don’t like doing with clients? Maybe don’t do them as often or not at all
Sometimes you get stressed by things other people do.
For example, someone could be aggressive towards you or hurt you. Or people say hurtful things or treat you differently because of your work.
Read about how to deal with violence.
Read what you can do if people are mean to you
Preventing stress
The best thing is if you can avoid stress. That isn’t always possible, but the following things help:
- Make sure you eat, drink and sleep well
- Exercise helps fight stress. Think about an exercise that you like. This could be dancing, going for walks or going to the gym.
- Make sure you know your limits. Is there something you actually don’t want to do? Then don’t do it
- Have you done something you didn’t want to do anyway? In that case, take care of yourself. Talk about it to someone you trust. You could also write about it in a diary
- Make sure you know what your working hours are. Don’t take your work home with you. For example, after work, put your phone on mute and don’t answer emails again until you are back at work
- What things do you like about your work? Try doing more of them
- What do you enjoy when you’re not at work? Try doing more of that
- Reach out to people doing the same work. This can be done at your work location. Or at locations where there are a lot of sex workers
Help
Are you suffering a lot of stress because of your work? And do you want to do something about it? These people can help you:
- Your doctor
- A psychologist
- A care provider who knows all about sex work
Do you need advice or support? Get help
Do you have a problem or question about your work? Or do you need advice or care? You can get help.
