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STRESS CAN BURN YOU OUT. HAVE FAITH THAT IT’LL ALL WORK OUT THROUGH HOPE.

Do you feel like your life is becoming too hectic and you don’t know how to tackle it? Even though you exercise regularly, eat healthy foods and leave enough downtime for your pockets of peace, you’re still stressed. How can you get out of that rut?

It’s all about remaining calm in the midst of challenges says psychiatry professor Dr Prabha Chandra. “Act; don’t react. Reactions are emotional and may be accompanied by frustration and anger, while actions are planned, goal-oriented and yield better results in the long term,” he advises.

If you get stressed, think of it as a flashlight or torch. When you need it, you turn it on. When you’re done, you switch it off or you’ll risk burning out the battery. The same is true for stress and your body. A little is good, but when you constantly feel helpless and defeated, stress hormone levels skyrocket and stay there. As a result, you can neglect or even abuse your mind and body. That’s what Dr Chandra defines as unsafe stress. The key to practising safe stress management is to acknowledge that it’s part of daily living. So, aim for a stress-resilient lifestyle that allows you to bounce along with life’s events, constantly adapting and adjusting.

You may not realise it, but you possess the ultimate antidote to stress called hope. When you feel hopeful, stress levels go down. But, where does hope come from? Most of the time, you must create it. If you’re going through a financial crisis, for example, it’s easy to feel helpless. But stress needn’t overwhelm you. Instead, roll up your sleeves and dig in. Your fear will begin to melt away. The end result? Hope.