High Stress Symptoms For Entrepreneur Teachers

Stress can be stealthy and hard to identify. 

Is it chronic stress . . . or just a few bad days?

What does stress feel like? 

This is one of the most important questions you can ask. Knowing the answer can help you recognize chronic stress in your life and take action to protect yourself from its detrimental impacts. High-stress symptoms can and will vary by person. They also vary by sex. For instance, females tend to manifest stress differently from males.

The symptoms of stress are what help you become aware of stress so you can manage it. 

Stress symptoms are like the smoke from an invisible fire. They’re critical sources of information. This is why educating yourself on the symptoms of stress is vital for effective stress management. Not knowing your symptoms can damage your ability to manage, reduce, and relieve chronic stress.

If you’re building a teacher business and/or teaching, you’re probably experiencing teacher stress, which is at least double the stress levels of most other workers. This is why knowing your stress symptoms is more urgent for you than for many others.

Stress symptoms can be mental, emotional, physical, or behavioral. And they impact your life and business. Let’s break them down, discuss ways to become aware of them, and look at resources to help you manage stress more effectively.

What Does Stress Feel Like: The Signs of Stress

Physical Symptoms of Stress:

• Frequent illnesses such as flu, infection, or cold
• Loss of sexual desire and/or function
• Nervousness, shaking, cold or sweaty hands or feet, ringing in the ears 
• Hard time swallowing or dry mouth
• Clenched jaw, teeth grinding
• Low energy levels
• Gastrointestinal issues such as nausea, diarrhea, upset tummy, or constipation
• Headaches
• Insomnia or trouble sleeping
• Signs of burnout
• Aches, pains, and muscle tension

Emotional Symptoms of Stress:

• Difficulty relaxing and quieting your mind
• Avoiding, or desire to avoid, others
• Feeling bad about yourself (low self-esteem)
• Feeling lonely, worthless, or depressed
• Often becoming irritable, frustrated, agitated, or moody
• Feeling overwhelmed, as if you need to take more control but can’t
• Low work or job satisfaction

Mental Symptoms of Stress:

• Inability to focus
• Poor judgment
• Being overly pessimistic
• Compulsive worrying
• Racing thoughts
• Disorganization, forgetfulness

Behavioral Symptoms of Stress:

• Appetite changes - either eating too much or too little
• Avoiding responsibilities and procrastination
• More addictive behaviors or dependencies on things such as the use of drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes
• Nervous behaviors, such as pacing, fidgeting, or nail biting
• Lower productivity and efficiency

How Stress Symptoms Impact You and Your Teacher Business

The impacts of stress on entrepreneur teachers can’t be understated. If you’re still teaching in an educational or school setting, teacher stress impacts teaching quality, performance, and student motivation. Enter entrepreneurial stress, which compounds teacher stress. Either type will result in stress symptoms if it’s not managed, as well as eventual mental and physical health declines. These declines cause you to lose capacity and “bandwidth,” leading to stagnation in your life and business.

This is why catching your chronic or high-stress symptoms early is essential.

Stress Management Solutions and Resources

You may be vaguely aware that you’re “stressed out.” For example, perhaps you recognize a few emotional symptoms of stress like irritability or overwhelm. However, you probably haven’t pinpointed other significant stress symptoms. Alternatively, you may not be aware you’re stressed at all and need to identify signs to create awareness.

In either case, one of the best ways to create more awareness and recognize your stress symptoms is with a body check. 

Body Checks

Body checks are a way to tune into your emotions, thoughts, and physical sensations. Not only does a body check help you recognize physical signs of stress, but it also helps you reflect on your emotions and process them. Body checks are an effective way to manage stress. They can also be done at any time, anywhere.

Performing a body check is quick and easy once you get the hang of it. You take a few moments to be still and focus on your breath. Then, you mentally scan various areas of your body and notice what sensations are popping up. 

Does something feel buzzy, cold, or clammy? Is there a dull ache somewhere? Perhaps there’s no sensation. If a bodily area feels blank, this is OK and normal. Refer to the physical signs of stress in this article and scan for those kinds of sensations. If they don’t appear, well, that’s good!

Learn more about body checks in this article. 

The Teacher Life Balance Stress Management System

Now that you know about the signs of stress and how to use body checks, let’s discuss being proactive with stress management. 

Being proactive is advanced. The majority of people don’t do it. However, constantly putting out fires or suffering through stress is not a recipe for happiness or success. It’s more often a recipe for disappointment, self-doubt, or failure.   

While there are many ways to be proactive when managing stress, creating a stress management system that addresses your life and business is one of the best. There are a few reasons for this. 

You’re complicated, and so is your life. You need a system that addresses multiple aspects of your experience. Also, if you aspire to success, managing just one or two areas probably won’t be adequate. Stress is systemic, which is why it requires a systemic solution. 

The Teacher Business Balance Membership is a resource that offers a systemic solution. It focuses on designing a system o business and stress relief strategies across life and work - home, productivity, business, teacher stress, self-care, and more. It was created for entrepreneur teachers by a teacherpreneur. And it holds all the resources, information, tools, structure, and support you need to create the life and business you deserve. 

I hope this article helps you recognize the physical, mental, behavioral, and emotional symptoms of stress. 

Consider bookmarking this article so you can use it the next time you ask, what does stress feel like? 

You can also use it to experiment with body checks and reflect on any high-stress symptoms you’re experiencing. It’s critical to catch them as early as possible to protect your health, life quality, and business. 

If you’re a teacher and/or run a teacher business, learn how to curate and build a custom business system that will allow you more time to grow in and out of the office.