The last two months have been very stressful months. We had all kinds of issue come up that added to our stress level. As you have heard, our grandmother passed away last month. We had to take time off work to go to the funeral. We went along on the trip to help the rest of the family in case of car trouble; however, we were the ones that had the car trouble. The air conditioner went out, and the cost of the repairs caused us to have to purchase a newer vehicle. Our air conditioner at our house also died and we have been working to repair it. Just when we think we have it fixed, something else goes wrong. This has caused us a lot of stress. Our normal life is very busy, so this just adds to the stress. These issues have caused us to look at the way we deal with stress, because we have been dealing with this high level of stress for almost two months.
When we are faced with stress, we need to understand that a small amount of stress is good. This small amount of stress keeps us on task and helps us to be productive. But prolonged amounts of high stress are not good for our health. We need to learn to deal with our stress appropriately. This can be accomplished in many ways, and we will address our favorite five steps.
First, we need to review our stress and separate the real from the fictional stress. When stress is present in our lives, we need to make sure that the stress is real. Sometimes, we stress out over perceived outcomes. We stress about things we think are going to happen. This type of stress is unrealistic. We need to stop stressing out about things that are not real. This step will make our stress levels more realistic.
Second, we need to concentrate on what actions we can take to reduce of our stress. We need to look at our stress level and figure out what can be done to fix the issue that is causing the stress. We need to take action on what part of the issue we can change. Our action can reduce or eliminate the stress from a certain issue. We should work to resolve the problems that we face to reduce our stress levels. The worst action to take is no action, which causes the problem and the stress to get worse.
Third, we can take a break from the stress. We need to find ways to take some time to get away from the stress, even if it is just a little while. We should look for positive ways to give our brain a rest from stress. These mini-vacations will help us to get away from the stress long enough to regroup and deal with the stress better.
Forth, we need to get some exercise. Exercise is a great way to reduce the effects of stress on your lives. If we concentrate on the exercise then we are able to give our brains a rest from our stress. Exercise also helps our body deal with stress better by releasing Endorphins into the body. Endorphins interact with our brain and reduce our perception of pain. Endorphins give us positive feelings that help us deal with stress better
Fifth, we need to ask for help. Sometimes, we want to feel important and self sufficient. We want to believe we can do anything by ourselves, but this is unrealistic. We need to understand that we all need help from time to time. It is important to ask for help from others when we need it. This allows us to share the stress with others and reduce our own level of stress.
This Week's Challenge:
We need to follow the five steps to dealing with stress. We need to start by reviewing our stress and separating the real from the fictional stress. Next, we need to concentrate on what action we can take to reduce our stress. We also can take a break from the stress, and get some exercise and ask for help. By following these five steps, we can learn to deal with stress and have a more successful life.