Throughout modern history women who ventured out into public have run the risk of having to hold it in, either because there were no facilities or not enough facilities for women, creating endless lines. Some years ago at my company's annual employee bash, I was waiting with my colleagues and other guests in a very, very long line to … Continue reading The Line to the Women’s Room – From Then To Now
Staying home when you’re ill can be a bummer.
But, going to work is a whole lot dumber!
With so much in the news about Ebola and other dangerous viruses and bacterial infections, we need to remind ourselves that most people are likelier to be catching the common cold or coming down with the current seasonal flu bug. Together, these viruses cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars each year in lost wages, business profits and healthcare costs. Even worse, they cause inconvenience, suffering and in rare cases the flu can result in life-threatening scenarios.
First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink,
then the drink takes you.
~ F. Scott Fitzgerald
Imbibing in alcoholic drinks has been a time-honored tradition in business, industry and the professions. I began my career back in the “Mad Men” epoch of the 1960s in the television broadcasting industry in which opportunities to drink proliferated. Although none of the offices in which I worked had a bar such as the one Don Draper had in his office, there were plenty of assignments that involved the champagne and spirits flowing. Continuing into 1970s, I added the publishing and public relations industries to my resume; and if you think the ‘60s were mad with drink, the following decade saw the escalation of the three-martini lunch and drinking after work with colleagues become de rigueur. I don’t know how any of us who worked back then survived the era of the on-the-job alcohol-soaked brain!
"That the birds of worry and care fly above your head,
this you cannot change.
But that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent."
Chinese Proverb
It seems that we humans have an ongoing struggle to reduce stress in our lives. But whether we are coping with our work, social or private lives we can take steps to reduce stress, or as the Proverb says, keep those blasted worry birds out of our hair.
But, first we should differentiate between chronic stress, which is the kind we wish to lessen, and acute stress, which might not be so bad for us. Studies have shown that the latter in small periodic doses of stress might actually be good for us, boosting our brain cells, focus, memory and resistance to disease. Acute stress comes in handy when cramming for an exam or meeting another deadline, focusing in an emergency, coping with a difficult situation or job hunting.
Jeanne Nelson 