Most of the time it appears to us that there is nothing much that we can do with the stressors that we encounter in life. Everyday, we are bombarded with different scenarios or stimuli that might threaten and disrupt our smooth sailing lives. Problems with family, career, and finances won't simply stop coming and may even become too demanding of us. Human as we are, it is normal to feel tensed, anxious, angry, exasperated, and the like when faced with difficult situations. However, despite every negative effect these things have on us, we should not fail to realize that we have a lot more control of these things than we really think. Realizing that there is something that we can do to alter these unwanted circumstances is the first step of managing stress.
Stress management is being able to maintain control when situations, people, and events make excessive demands. With this, many people would resort to different strategies and techniques to cope up with stress. Taking time to relax for example is one of the things we can do to save ourselves from a very stressful incident. Meditation and deep breathing exercises have also proven to help clear the mind of disturbing thoughts. In addition, taking a short trip or a vacation would also allow us to escape our routinary lives. Getting enough sleep can also be considered another management strategy since the lack of it would only aggravate stress.
Moreover, being able to accept and realize a stressful event and how we got ourselves into it is a powerful technique in gaining control over stress. In this way we are removing the blame from any external factor and would therefor allow ourselves to realize that we are responsible for the things that happen to us. Realizing this fact would then lead us to take action of the situation and think of ways to get ourselves out of it. Lastly, changing our thoughts would surely help us evade and transform a negative event to a positive one. The more we think in negative ways the deeper our suffering becomes. In contrast, if we view a failure as a challenge, not only did it make the rejecting incident a good stressor but also directed us to take action and manage the situation.

Charmane
ReplyDeleteI love your cartoon.
Could I use it in my ebook on stress - with your permission and appriopriate reference?
Regards and best wishes
John Miller
john.miller@millerhealth.com.au