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Coping With Stress
While a certain amount of stress is a natural and even useful part of being human as we all cope with the daily grind--as well as life's inevitable trying experiences--there are bound to be times when stress threatens to grow to out-of-control proportions and wreak havoc with both our emotional and physical health...
Easy-to-Follow Tips For Reducing or Even Altogether Avoiding Stress:
While stress is a natural part of life, it should not be running your life! Look through the following tips for reducing or altogether avoiding stress and see what you can be doing to keep stress in it’s proper place in your life.
Be Realistic
Eliminate activities that are not absolutely necessary and learn to say “No!” when you begin to feel overwhelmed by activities and demands.
Shed the Urge to Be “Superman” or “Superwoman”!
No one is perfect. Don’t expect perfection from yourself or from others. Instead, ask yourself, “What really needs to be done? How much can I do? Is the deadline realistic? What adjustments can I make?” And don’t hesitate to ask for help when you need it.
Make Time For Quiet Reflection
Just 10 to 20 minutes of quiet reflection each day can help bring relief from stress. Use the time to meditate, listen to music, take a relaxed-pace walk, savor a cup of tea, or just relax in a way that most pleases you.
Visualize
Many people feel that visualization helps to boost self-confidence and enables them to take more positive approaches to difficult tasks or situations. Use your imagination and picture how you might more successfully handle whatever you are finding stressful.
Take One Thing At a Time
When you’re under tension or stress, sometimes even an ordinary workload can seem unbearable. The best way to cope with the feeling of being overwhelmed is to step back for a moment and pick the one most urgent task and work on it. When that’s been accomplished, choose the next one, and so on, and so on. The positive feeling you’ll get from “checking off” tasks will motivate you to continue at a productive “one thing at a time” pace.
Exercise
Regular exercise is not only good for your body, it’s also a great way to relieve stress. 20 to 30 minutes of physical exercise each day can be a big help in helping to ease any current feelings of stress, as well as helping to keep you in a state of mind that will resist the urge to respond stressfully to things that come up throughout the day.
Schedule Time For Favorite Hobbies and/or Recreational Activities
Take frequently scheduled breaks from your worries and do something you enjoy. Whether it’s gardening, fishing, painting, photography, "shooting hoops," sailing, biking, skating, skiing--or whatever you find pleasurable--regularly indulging in your favorite interests can help keep stress in your life to a minimum.
Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle
Get adequate rest, eat smart, limit your intake of caffeine and alcohol, avoid unhealthy substances, create and make a point of consistently balancing the hours you devote to your work life with time to "play."
Be Flexible--and Occasionally Give In!
If you find you’re constantly meeting opposition in either your personal or professional life, rethink your usual positions or strategies. Arguing can only intensify stressful feelings—however, when you’re right, stand your ground, but try do so as calmly and rationally as possible. Make allowances for others’ opinions and be prepared to compromise. Not only will you reduce your stress, you might also find better solutions to your problems.
Go Easy on Criticism
We often expect too much of ourselves and others. Try not to feel so disappointed, let down, or frustrated when you feel that you or someone you’re depending on doesn’t “measure up.” Remember, everyone has his or her strengths, virtues, shortcomings, and right to develop as an individual.
Share Your Feelings
Oftentimes sharing a candid conversation with a friend helps you to know that you are not alone in trying to work out troubling issues--as well as letting you know that you’re not the only one having a bad day, caring for a sick relative, working in a busy workplace, etc. Don’t think that you always have to cope alone--let your friends provide love, support and guidance.
Too often, people either think that high levels of ongoing stress are inevitable and something that they must grit their teeth and endure, or, perhaps even worse, they get so used to it that they grow to consider stress as familiar and even, because of it’s predictability, almost comfortable. It can also be tremendously helpful to seek the advice of a mental-health professional and get a “reality check” on the stress you’re experiencing. Therapy can provide a safe, confidential "sanctuary" in which to work through some of your feelings and concerns and develop more effective stress management skills that can help you to better ensure both your physical and emotional well-being.
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