Tips On How To Manage Stress And Enjoy Relief (John Smith)

We all deal with varying degrees of stress on a day-to-day basis. It's part of being human on Planet Earth. The demands of home, family, career, and relationships assert themselves upon us daily. Stress and the situations that cause it will always be with us. The mortgage will still be due every month, the days will still be too short by an average of four hours, and work and home responsibilities will require constant attention. These day-to-day facts of life are unchanging. What can be changed is the individual's perception of such, and how they will chose to react to it.

Take Charge

Despite the sometimes crushing weight of daily responsibilities, it's possible to exert control over our lives and how we choose to live them. Being aware of this simple yet profound fact goes a long way towards mastering stress management. Taking charge of your life, including your thoughts, feelings, surroundings, and problem solving skills, is a very empowering process. Striving to regain or maintain balance in life is a boon to the self-esteem. When confidence is high, it gets easier to bear up under pressure, and meet life's challenges head on.

Stress Triggers

The next step of successful stress reduction is learning to identify what triggers the stress in the first place. Some contributing stressors are fairly obvious ones, such as career concerns, relationship issues or financial pressures. But even daily mundane annoyances like traffic snarls and time constraints can impact one's stress level, especially over time.

Triggers don't always originate from the outer world. In fact, the most crippling stress triggers of all are the ones we bestow upon ourselves, knowingly or unknowingly. Self-sabotaging behaviors, negative thinking patterns, and stress-inducing mindsets have to be dealt with honestly and head on. Looking at the role one plays in escalating their stress levels can be a very enlightening experience. If dread panic at exam time or coming into a deadline is par for the course, it must be considered whether the fault lies with person themselves, owing to their unconscious tendency to procrastinate.

Chill Out

Effective stress management begins with the willingness to change what is not working. This means one must either change the situation or change their reaction to it. There are several techniques that have shown to be helpful in obtaining stress relief:

* Avoid unnecessary stressors. This sounds like a no-brainer, but you do not have to say yes to every invitation or request that comes your way. Learn to respect your own time and space, and learn to say "no."

* Change the situation. If a stressful occurrence is unavoidable, attempt to alter it. Consider what proactive solutions you can implement to ensure the issue will not present a problem down the line.

* Change yourself. If altering a stressor is not possible, changing your reaction to it certainly is. Reconfigure your expectations and mindset.

* Accept what you cannot change. There are certain stressors that are unavoidable, including serious illness or the passing of a beloved partner. Acceptance will bring a measure of peace that railing at the fates will never be able to do.

Stress relief is an on-going work in progress, not an event. With time and patience these stress reducing techniques will become second nature, leading to a calmer, happier, more balanced life.

Processing ...