60 Part One Introducing the Foodservice Industry
advancement must be balanced with other
interests and activities. Hobbies, reading,
family, and community activities serve as relief
from the pressures of work, 5-3. Balancing
work and personal life can be challenging. The
demanding work schedule common in the
culinary field adds to the challenge.
Reflection is a great tool to help achieve
balance. One outcome of this reflection is the
ability to put life’s matters in perspective.
This perspective sheds light on the issues of
balance or imbalance in your life.
Manage Stress
Everyday people experience differing
levels of stress. Stress is a physical, mental,
and emotional response to external pres-
sures. Pressures can be caused by change,
deadlines, or confrontation. Not all stress
is bad. Some level of stress is necessary to
keep life interesting and urge people to
action. Levels of stress that are too high
can negatively impact health and damage
relationships.
The hospitality business is a stressful
work environment. Culinarians must
perform skillfully under substantial pressure.
Deadlines are frequent and short. Customer
expectations leave little room for error.
The job requires long hours of physically
demanding work. The work schedule often
includes evenings, weekends, and holidays. It
is easy to understand why stress is a concern
in this field.
Because stress is part of the foodservice
business, cooks and chefs must learn how
to manage it in a healthy way. Long-term,
unmanaged stress leads to health problems—
depression, high blood pressure, insomnia,
and others. Alcoholism, drug abuse, and
smoking are examples of unhealthy ways of
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5-3 Chefs who learn to balance work life with family and community are less likely to experience burnout.