I've Moved!



NB: I will no longer be posting on Blogger. You can now find my latest posts at:

JOBANKS.NET

Thursday, 10 May 2012

Managing Stress


Most of us from time to time suffer from stress to a greater or lesser degree, whether is work based stress or personal (or most commonly a combination of both), there are a number of effective ways we can deal with it.

1.    Take a break


When things start to get on top of you and you feel the stress rising, you need to remove yourself from the situation as soon as possible and give yourself a bit of distance between you and the problem.  I’ve discussed this in other posts (particularly how to manage your emotions), walking away and getting some space between you and the issue, works wonders.
 

You may think, “How the heck can I walk away, I’m up to my eyeballs here!” but even taking a small break whether it’s getting a coffee with a friend or even taking a lunch break (God forbid!) can work wonders in putting some perspective back into the situation.
 

Quite often when we are under stress, we think the answer is to work harder and longer, however, THE very most effective thing is to do take a break and let your brain re-set.  You’ll be much more effective for it.


2.    Get some exercise

I’ve said it before, exercise does wonders for releasing all those unwanted hormones that are running through your body unchecked as a result of the adrenalin that is released when we are under stress (part of the ‘fight or flight’ syndrome that we still have from our ancestors).

Exercise really does make a difference in or mental wellbeing.  It doesn’t mean you have to run a marathon.  Just taking a walk around the block will help immensely.  If you can manage just 20 minutes of moderate exercise a day, you will undoubtedly see a difference in your stress levels.

3.    Talk to someone

Don’t bottle things up.  Talk to someone whether it’s a friend, a family member, your doctor or a coach who can help you put things in to perspective.  Sometimes when we are particularly stressed, we do tend to have a skewed view on the situation.  Be honest with someone who you trust and get them to give you honest feedback.  You need to avoid the person that will just tell you what you want to hear in this situation as they can just feed your sense of self righteousness and thereby increase your stress.  You need someone who’s straight talking and can see the situation clearly and help you work a way through it.

4.    Work on a plan

When I see clients who are particularly stressed, besides talking and dealing with the emotion side of things, I will also work closely with them to come up with a plan in order to ease the stressful situation there are in that might be:

  • Confidently tackling their boss or a work colleague who they are having problems with
  • Discussing their workload with their boss in an effective way
  • Looking at how they can manage their work life balance more effectively
  • How they can communicate more effectively with those around them so that others  understand things from their point of view and help them come to a solution
     5.     Think positive thoughts

When we are stressed, we only tend to see things from our own point of view – like everything else; our perception of what is going on is only OUR perception and is rarely the reality.  If we can manage to change the way we think about things and see them more positively then our feelings will also change – again see my post on Managing Negative Thoughts for more information on why this is important and how to do it effectively.

This sounds easy and I appreciate that it is hard at first, but the more you are able to see things in a positive light, the better you life will become.

What’s the difference between people who get stressed and those who don’t?  Do you really think that those people don’t have stress situations in their lives?  Of course they do.  The difference is they think about them differently and deal with them effectively.

If you’d like to discuss any issues or situations that you are finding stressful, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Have a great week!

Jo


No comments:

Post a Comment