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
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
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