Are You Too Stressed?
Is your stomach all tied up in knots? Do you have trouble concentrating or remembering things? Do you have trouble falling asleep, or do you sleep too much? You can handle a certain amount of stress, but when you get overloaded with stress, it lowers your ability to function. That is when you need stress relief ? and you need it fast. These 12 stress busters will show you how you can reduce stress, and some of them work in an instant.
Stress actually takes the joy out of life. It saps your energy. In its extreme, stress can immobilize you. Stress also aggravates physical illnesses such as high blood pressure, heart disease, ulcers, back pain, and many others.
If you are stressed at home, it also affects your work. If you are stressed at work, it affects your relationships with your family. You aren't much fun to be with when you're all stressed out. Instead, you can be grumpy, irritable, angry, impatient, distracted, jumpy, and impulsive. This in turn makes other people tense and uncomfortable.
Stress is caused by the anxiety that comes from fear, and many of these fears are caused by your unrealistic expectations. To alleviate the stress you need to determine whether your expectations are creating peace of mind or causing anxiety.
For example, if you expect life to be without problems, expect that relatives will get along just because they're related, or expect that your work will always be perfect, you're being unrealistic, and you're creating your own stress. Try having only one expectation - be yourself, do the best you know how, and accept your limitations.
If you are still experiencing stress after you have evaluated and changed your expectations, try these stress busters.
A Dozen Stress Busters:
1. Look for humor in the situation. You can pretend you are making a TV sitcom. You can imagine difficult people as very small, wearing diapers, or clothing from a different era. In your imagination you can make them very skinny or short and fat.
2. Create a safe haven in your mind by thinking of a place in your life where you were happiest. Take a couple of minutes to visualize yourself in that happy place. When you are ready to return to reality you will have calmed down, and you will be able to think more rationally.
3. Choose a cassette tape of music that has a calming effect on you. Keep it with you so you can use it at a moment's notice.
4. Start your day on a positive. Listen to motivational audio tapes every morning. Then, several times a day take a few minutes to read inspirational books, poems, and quotes.
5. Call a friend. Sometimes just getting things off your chest can relieve your anxiety. It is also helpful to join a support group for people with similar problems.
6. Focus on your major goal and do something to move it forward. You will feel a sense of accomplishment, and your stressful situation will occupy a smaller place in your life.
7. Do something that is fun. Having fun is how we recharge our battery. If stress has drained our energy, it is important to schedule activities that are fun for you so that you can recharge.
8. Spend time with nature. Take a walk in the park. Look at the trees swaying in the breeze. Watch the squirrels chase each other from tree to tree. Nature has its own way of putting things into perspective. Just by realizing that there is an innate intelligence in all living things can help you to let go and let nature do its part. If you are a religious person, turning to God can help you be at peace with any situation.
9. Change what you can control in the situation and accept the rest. For example, your stress may involve other people. You may have tried to talk about a stressful situation with the other people involved, but nothing has changed. One thing you can control is how you respond to what others are doing. Study your situation and change one aspect of your own response to a more peaceful response.
10. Susan Jeffers, in her book, "Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway," says that you should ask yourself. "What is the worst thing that can happen, and could you handle it?" Just knowing that you can handle the worst possibility will lower your stress.
11. Create a peaceful corner at home where you can have quiet time. Decorate it with your favorite pictures, stuff that make you feel good, and fresh flowers.
12. Do something physical. Either do some exercise, play a sport, or clean out your closets, weed your garden, rake the leaves, wash the windows, etc. When you do anything physical it reduces stress.
If none of the above works, get help from a professional who can give you expert guidance.
In short, stress is created in your mind by your own fears. A more peaceful mind will lead to a more peaceful perception of your situation, and the result will be lower stress. Just by changing the way you think, you can lower your stress even if nothing else changes.
If you look at every stressful situation and ask yourself, "What can I do that will create peace of mind instead of stress?" you will start replacing the stress in your life with serenity and happiness.
Are you stressed and unhappy at work? The real problem may be different from what you think it is. That is why the author, Harriet Meyerson, founder of The Confidence Center, gives you an Employee Morale Assessment to pinpoint problem areas, a Confidence Quiz to help you become more successful, and an Employee Morale and Confidence Tips newsletter. They are all F.r.e.e on her web at http://www.confidencecenter.com
Copyright Harriet Meyerson. At The Confidence Center we work with companies who want to raise employee morale and confidence ? on a shoestring budget. We offer seminars, telephone seminars, books, eBooks and many more resources.
* Editors, you have permission to reprint this article in your newsletter, or post this article on your web with a live link please.
Mokena prom limo .. Lockport Chicago limo O’Hare* The material presented in this article is provided for... Read More
The Problem You don't need me to tell you how... Read More
Q:We recently had someone come to our company to talk... Read More
Stress is amazingly persistent, even seductive. We get used to... Read More
The National Center for health statistics reported that in 1997,... Read More
My first real job (schedule, time clock, paycheck, boss) was... Read More
You probably think I'm wacko, but it's true - stress... Read More
Do you ever feel stressed? Is stress a regular component... Read More
Of all the sources of stress in our lives, faulty... Read More
Defending your point of view can use up a lot... Read More
Rest.It's a good thing to do. As the story goes,... Read More
Lake Hopatcong, NJ (PRWEB) November 30, 2004 -- Here are... Read More
When something happens in our lives, we automatically assess the... Read More
In a hectic world, it's all too easy to reach... Read More
Don't wait to have a life-threatening disease to learn what... Read More
Understanding StressStress has been called "the invisible disease". It is... Read More
We so often take the feelings of happiness and saddness... Read More
Let's face it! The majority of our time is either... Read More
IntroductionTime magazine called stress the "The Epidemic of the Eighties".... Read More
"The great lesson from the true mystics, from the Zen... Read More
1. Acknowledge that requesting support, guidance and partnership is not... Read More
Work related tensions, personal issues and abnormal lifestyles are the... Read More
Seems like more and more they are all around us.... Read More
As Montaigne said, "he who fears he will suffer, already... Read More
Did you ever feel like your "get-up-and-go" got up and... Read More
Mokena Chicago limo O'Hare ..Stress and anxiety can prematurely age our mind and body.... Read More
Are you looking for stress relief? No drugs, no meditation?... Read More
In these times when companies are constantly down-sizing and right-sizing... Read More
"I've got too much to do, I've just got too... Read More
The Problem You don't need me to tell you how... Read More
"Do you want to be a lump of coal or... Read More
Everyone worries. As bothersome as it is, worry isn't all... Read More
Q. I have just recently come to recognize that I... Read More
As Montaigne said, "he who fears he will suffer, already... Read More
Over the years I've collected scores of comics and cartoons... Read More
There are two types of anxiety:*Situational *Existential.Most of us experience... Read More
The Rule of BalanceThere is more to life than work.... Read More
Fear, and its accompanying seriousness, causes our suffering. Fear restricts... Read More
The pace of life seems to quicken every year. More... Read More
Think back a few years to the nine coal miners... Read More
Training Your Mind For Better Business and LeisureModern life moves... Read More
We wonder how many of you might recognise this scenario?... Read More
When a great Zen Master returned to his country after... Read More
Mark Twain once said, "It's not what we don't know... Read More
Don't wait to have a life-threatening disease to learn what... Read More
ExcusesWe all have them. It amazes me how creative I... Read More
If you have recently lost health insurance coverage through your... Read More
Today's workplace produces plenty of stress. Life's little hassles mount... Read More
Many people recognise the warning signs that stress may be... Read More
We function at our best when we are free from... Read More
Stress Management |