Coping with Stress
It is evident in our daily lives how stress can affect us physically. Some of us experience terrible migraines, while others of us become highly emotional. Some people even become physically ill during stressful moment.
But how does it affect our brains? Just like it affects us physically, prolonged stress is not good for the brain. Minute moments of stress can be good for the brain, because it stimulates it. But prolonged stress kills the neurons in your brain. It is important that we learn how to cope and manage stress so that it does not negatively affect our brains.
Spending just 10 minutes a day in relaxation can help in coping with stress. You may be a busy mom of four children or a top executive at your company. Either way, you feel like you never have time to yourself. It is impossible for you to feel relaxed when your life requires so much of you.
If that describes you perfectly, then let your shower time be your time of relaxation. After all, we all have to shower every day. (At least, I hope that you all do.) When you’re taking a shower, try to block out all other thoughts that may be creeping into your head. Just focus on the sound of the water and how it feels on your skin. Take steady, deep breaths. It’s all about focusing on what is right in front of you and not allowing yourself to be bogged down by your to-do list.
Beyond relaxation techniques, it’s important to learn how to deal with stress in the long term. First, identify the areas of stress in your life. Examine the role you are playing in your stress. It may even be helpful to start a stress journal. Write down your thoughts about the stress that is entering and lingering in your life. Next, recognize the ways that you are currently coping with your stress. Drinking? Smoking? Eating? Sleeping?
It’s different for everyone, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be one thing. You could be dealing with your stress using a number of different coping measures. The next step is to learn how to cope with your stress in a productive manner. There are four ways to deal with your stress in a healthy manner: avoid, alter, adapt or accept. You either need to change the situation or change yourself. Avoiding and altering correlates with changing the situation, and adapting and accepting has to do with changing something about yourself.
So how do you avoid stress? The biggest thing for me is learning how to say no. Don’t take on too much. Put up some boundaries, and learn how to recognize when you’re at or near your limit of responsibilities. Altering the situation can be done by expressing your feelings.
If you are having a stressful situation with a co-worker or friend, you can alter the situation by discussing your emotions and coming to a solution that will reduce stress for both parties. Now, the last two can be really hard because it has to do with changing something about yourself. First, you can learn to adapt to the stressor. Maybe your perceptions are causing you to become stressed. Perhaps the situation is not as stressful as it actually seems. Take a step back to look at the big picture, and you may be surprised at what you see.
Finally, accept the things you cannot change. This one is especially hard for control freaks – me being one of them. You need to understand that there are certain thing you cannot control, and you need to learn to be ok with that.
Photo by dMap Travel Guide
