Stress, Socialization Agents, and Happiness

Stress, Socialization Agents, and Happiness

Because I consider myself one of the most resilient people globally, a personal experience with stress and the regulation of pressure at work has made me aware that even the most resilient people in the world experience stress. I recently went through a period of intense work-related tension. Since the psychological and physical symptoms were unfamiliar to me, it was my first experience encountering such a form of stress. I worked on a client project that needed me to give a presentation in front of an audience. That was not an issue in and of itself. However, the position was difficult for me because it was in a new area and including working away from my comfort zone. As the date for presentation got nearer, I got anxious thinking about whether it will be successful, primarily as I was multitasking. During the weeks before the performance, things took a turn. I changed from managing to thinking like I was failing. I seriously began to worry whether I could handle the work, and continuous thoughts started flowing that would affect my physical and mental wellbeing. My workmates would inquire about my progress, but I avoided providing direct answers. My answers would have been that I was so worried about failing the deadline; of appearing incompetent before the clients, comments from people later when it all failed and that I wished everything could all disappear and not happen again. However, I entirely avoided mentioning any of these things because I was afraid of looking vulnerable and weak. In the stressor_s reading, I did not connect my personal experience with the suggestion that job strainers that seem to contribute majorly to job burnouts are frequently seen in employees who are unmarried, older, and whose work is mainly manual labour. The reading also suggests that job burnouts are mostly associated with individuals who are overweight, have a mental disorder or are heavy alcohol consumers. My kind of stress led to a severe burn out yet I do not fall in any of the categories of workers described in the reading. I am aged below 55 years, happily married, and my work is not manual. Besides, I am not overweight and do not consume alcohol either. I think job burn out can affect everyone, and it only depends on the circumstances.

Family and Workplace as Socialization Agents

Family and Workplace are the most important agents of socialization in my life. While social group agents such as family and peer groups offer the initial experiences of socialization, institutional agents such working environment, government and schools teach people appropriate behaviour while working in these systems. The family is my first agent of socialization because I was taught all the necessary things I needed to know by my parents. Members of my family taught me how to use items such as books and clothes and how to relate to other people such as friends and neighbours. The socioeconomic class of my family influenced the kind of socialization I went through. For instance, I have grown to become an independent person because my parents were hard-working people who always discouraged me from being so dependent on others. This situation relates to the reading of “Agents of socialization,” where it is reported that Sociologists acknowledge that religion, social class, race and other elements contribute to socialization. My workplace is my second socialization agent because, after family, I spend most of my time at work. Even though I was socialized by the family since I was young, I required being socialized a new when I joined employment to fit in the job environment. I learned how to relate professionally with clients, workmates and my employer. And as the reading suggests, people keep changing jobs hence the need to be regularly socialized by and to various environments of work.

A Personal Experience with Happiness

A personal experience with happiness in my life reached its peak when I began working. I became utterly content with myself as a result of the inner joy and peace following the new environment at an executive office, good relationships with my colleagues and family as well as a general feeling of accomplishment after landing my dream job. Although my salary contributed to my happiness, money was not the key to my happiness at work but instead, autonomy. At my place of work, freedom implied doing work that I could make at least most of the choices on my own. The level of independence included setting my personal goals and choosing the project to work on, as well as determining where and when to perform them. Being in control of my work schedule enabled me to have time to enjoy other pleasures such as relaxing with my family and friends during weekends and taking an off one in a while to go on vacation. Getting the job that I had indeed anticipated allowed me to use the skills I had learned in school to perform my best at work. I felt that I already knew how to do the job in theory and now it was time to do the actual work. I found a lot of meaning in my work when I realized my contribution towards the achievement of my organization’s goals was immense. This realization only increased my happiness and made me want to work even harder. At this point a recognized my satisfaction and indeed, the reading “Pursuit of Happiness” suggests that joy is made up of three different aspects constituting, meaningful life, good life, and pleasant life. In my case, living was significant because I experienced a great sense of satisfaction that resulted from using my skills in the organization I worked for to assist in achieving its goals.

Works Cited

Class readings. Stressors, Stress Regulation, Agents of Socialization & Pursuit for Happiness 2017