NEWS LETTERMay 202４

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How to cope with changes in the environment

HOKENDOHJIN- FRONTIER, Inc.
Human Frontier Counseling Center
4F Aoyama 1-Chome Tower, 1-3-3,
Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo
107-0062, Japan
Tel: 03-6747-6250
Schedule a counseling appointment

０１２０－７８３－７４４
Office hours:(excluding holidays)
Monday through Friday１０：００～２０：００
Saturday
10：00～18：００
E-mail :sodan@humanfrontier.co.jp※We will reply to you within two business days
after receiving your message.

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One-third of the year 2024 has already passed. This season, the beginning of a new
fiscal year, often comes with changes in work or study environment, and some people
experience symptoms of so-called “May blues”. The symptoms include poor physicalcondition, decreased motivation, pessimistic feeling and/or melancholy. We, counselors,often receive clients who experience difficulties in returning to work after the consecutive
holidays, “Golden Week”.
Spring is a season of significant changes in the environment, such as entrance into
school, joining a company, and personnel changes in the office. Adjusting to a newschool or to a new workplace can disrupt the rhythm of daily life, such as wake-up time,
which would bring about a stress. Further, changes in the environment necessitate
establishing new inter-personal and/or business relationships with many people, which
would burn us out without realizing it. Even those who welcomed the new fiscal year withpositive expectations and enthusiasm may be stressed out by the gap between theirideals and reality- “I cannot learn how to do my new job as well as I hoped” and “I cannot
get used to my new workplace.” This stress brings many people into “May blues.”
For those who experience this kind of stress, the Golden Week (consecutive holidays inthe end of April through early May in Japan) is their first extended holiday after
significant changes in their environment. It provides a valuable opportunity to relax theirminds. However, once the holiday is over, one must confront the reality that tough days
will continue, which can result in a health problem. Moreover, an extended vacation
offers a chance to ease the tension that drove you to work hard in order to produce
results. Thus, you may have a similar phenomenon after a summer long vacation andyear-end and New Year holidays.
When accumulation of stress becomes so much as to exceed the physical and mental
capacity to adapt, various symptoms will appear, including May blues. As the conditions
may not be recognized by the persons themselves, it is important for the people around,family and friends, to catch the sign and help them take restorative actions. It is crucial toeffectively manage stress on a daily basis in order to prevent these symptoms.
Here are some tips that can help you cope with stress.
- Try to view challenges as opportunities for your growth, rather than solely focusing on
the negative aspects.
- Share your negative feelings and frustrations with someone, instead of trying to deal
with them alone.
- Accept the fact that failures are natural phenomena in a new job or in a newenvironment. Relax and stop being a perfectionist.
- Learn some stress coping skills that work for you.
- Do not work too hard to do all by yourself. Ask for help when you find it difficult tohandle your task.
Get enough sleep, eat well, and use these tips in order not to accumulate stress.

Counselor’s Oasis
I recently went to get a massage treatment, and the practitioner told me my calf muscles were very tight. After that, I
started to use a foot massager that I had bought some time ago but rarely used. I now use it every night before going tobed, and it makes me feel very comfortable and relaxed just in about 10 minutes. Further, the muscles have softened,and my legs no longer feel tired, probably because my circulation has improved. The calves are often referred to as thesecond heart. To relieve your calf muscles, self-massaging in the bathtub is another effective way, so do give it a try.