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"Engineering Stress" while at work!

Apr 08, 2020
Engineering stress does not refer to a “measure of the intensity or internal distribution of the total internal forces acting within a deformable body across imaginary surfaces.” Here I am referring to the physiological demand many of us are experiencing in response to the ever changing engineering marketplace.

My colleagues and I were on a conference call about our recruiting search assignments and the conversation went off onto a tangent. Those minutes that we talked about something other than our searches had me laughing and I felt stress melting away. I was much more productive for the hours following that call.

This started me thinking, how can the civil engineering community pull together and de-stress, if only for a while? I ran an Internet search and found over 171,000 results for "ASCE and golf and 2018." Seems each ASCE chapter has some sort of annual golf charity. A great stress reliever and way to enjoy networking. Other association dinner meetings, luncheon seminars on topics other than work and corporate sponsored volunteer events provide avenues to spend time with colleagues in a non stress environment.

Business social networking sites like the Civil Engineering Central Group on LinkedIn have also provided an opportunity for many of us to take a break, decompress and correspond (quickly) with our colleagues in a non-stressful environment.

Do you have other ideas or suggestions?!

The Metzner Group Blog

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