Step back from stress
‘MY life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened’. – Michael De Montaigne.
Almost everybody worries, it can be a useful response to life, preventing us from being reckless and stimulating us to take control of a difficult situation. However some people worry a lot more than others, and sometimes to the point where worry becomes a problem in itself. Worry is a learned habit and many people spend a lot of time thinking about negative possibilities, mulling them over and developing exaggerated situations and options. Indeed research tells us that most people’s worries are about things that never happen, the ‘what if ’ and ‘maybe’s’, or else they’re about the past, for which we have no control over!
Worry is the foundation for stress. When we feel stress we stimulate the stress response which causes physiological reactions within our bodies, including an increase in blood pressure, heart rate and excessive sweating to name but a few. Prolonged stress in your life interferes with your relationships at home, on the job, and socially. It can waste your vitality and deplete your personal energy resources. You can more easily become negatively influenced in your attitudes and feelings about yourself.
Some symptoms of stress include: Loss of confidence and self doubt, helplessness, poor concentration, headaches, and stomach upsets, emotional distress, irritability.
Everyone differs in what is stressful. What for one person might seem to be a major event may be a minor setback for another. Fears, uncertainty, attitudes, perceptions and change all contribute to the onset of the stress response and depending on your individual stress style and coping skills, may determine how well you manage things.
Simple techniques proven to help develop your coping skills include:
Expression: Keeping a journal is highly effective at helping you to discover how your own thinking and reactions contribute significantly to your stressful circumstances. Once you relearn how to dispute any faulty habits it will help you gain a new perspective on things.
Physical Activity: Virtually any form of exercise is a potent antidote for stress, so get moving!
Breathing: Amazingly, most people do not breathe correctly. Breathing exercises are very powerful in reducing symptoms of stress. Anxiety always comes with shallow breathing and if you are frequently in a state of stress your body may eventually forget how to breathe in a healthy way! Try taking very slow, very deliberate breaths. Take at least five seconds to breathe in, hold for two seconds, then breathe out for six to seven seconds. This will help you regain some of your carbon dioxide while still allowing you to breathe comfortably. That’s why you should also consider enrolling in a yoga or meditation class. Many people believe that both yoga and meditation are very useful for controlling stress and anxiety. But beyond that, both involve breathing re-training. You’ll need to remind your body how to breathe in a healthier way, so that you don’t continue to shallow breathe even when you don’t have anxiety.
Talking: Whilst some people shy away from talking, those who seek out help feel more empowered. Coaching can help you to find ways to cope with stressful conditions, help you to communicate better in handling conflicting situations and help you to gain a new perspective on situations that are causing you stress.