Anssi Kosonen works as a digital marketing manager at Redhill Games. He manages the company’s advertising on various digital channels, such as Facebook or YouTube. Anssi considers his work creative, hectic and incredibly interesting. “I have had chronic stress management problems. I have been working in digital marketing for over a decade now, and I started my career at Redhill Games around a year ago. Although I’m not a newcomer anymore, I tried to compensate for what I felt was my lack of experience by working twice as hard.”
Anssi says that he gets easily high-strung by the work itself and working as such. The tendency to overachieve affects sleep, which in turn reduces the ability to concentrate. He found himself falling back to these familiar patterns, even though he had already acknowledged that he had problems managing his work and separating work from free time. In previous jobs, he had already discussed stress and overworking himself with an occupational psychologist. This was precisely why, as 2022 began, he was able to see that he was pushing himself too hard once again.
“Even though I was aware of my tendencies, I couldn’t avoid falling down the same rabbit hole again. I heard about Auntie from my manager. At work, we’re also told openly about Auntie on many different channels. When I discussed my problems with my manager, they thought it would be a good idea for me to start using the service.”
 |
Success diary – a great help
Anssi did not pick an Auntie package for himself beforehand, but instead discussed the matters that were relevant to him first with an Auntie professional. It quickly became evident that the Stressed Out package was the right choice. Anssi says that the Auntie professional was very easy to talk to, and they got on well. “It was good to be able to process things with someone who was not involved in the situation. I was genuinely being listened to, and that was very valuable for me.”
“Most of all the Auntie professional offered a new perspective on things and got me to think about what can really be so important that it’s worth losing sleep or my free time over. Work is not meant to come before everything else in life. I was able to come back to reality and see things for what they really were. The Auntie professional quickly pointed out things that sounded obvious, but that I had somehow managed to forget. When I changed my perspective, these things felt like great revelations.”
In addition to stress management, the conversations highlighted the feeling of inadequacy that had long troubled Anssi. The Auntie professional took a very pragmatic approach to this and offered practical advice. For example, they told Anssi to start keeping a diary in which he would record all his successes – big and small.
“The diary helped me realise that I actually have a great many successes every day. Despite always feeling like I should have gotten no end of things done, the diary showed me that I always accomplished a lot. This was an interesting exercise that I decided to keep up daily even after the Auntie sessions ended. In the expanded success diary, I keep now, in addition to successes I record insights into my own behaviour and how I relate to things. It has been a great help.”
Seeking support in time
Anssi had thought that just a couple of appointments would be enough, but he soon found that there were always new things that it would be good to discuss. He found it easy to make time for the appointments, since they were scheduled on his terms.
“After the fifth appointment, I started feeling like my head was screwed on right again. I learned how important it is to think ahead and process things before they get out of hand, as they had for me. I feel like something has shifted in my mind permanently, and I’m starting to get over my feelings of inadequacy. Now I’m confident I can do my job well.”
Anssi now sleeps better, and work-related matters do not pop up in his mind as readily as they used to. He still runs through things mentally when he goes to bed, but he now knows how to stop in time. He feels more stable and calmer.
Anssi recommends an Auntie package to everyone in the early stages of their career if they have even the slightest feeling that they are trying to compensate for inexperience by overworking themselves. “Anyone with problems like this will benefit from these meetings. They need to see that you do not have to constantly work yourself to the bone. If you feel any pressure at work that won’t go away, or feels like too much or abnormal, you should seek support. Auntie is an excellent, low-threshold service that provides counselling quickly. It’s an easy way of finding out if there’s something the Auntie professionals could help you do differently.”
Share article
