WEEKLY FOCUS
Oh no…Stress
Is it all bad?
Listen here
One definition of stress is…“Stress is the body’s way of responding to any kind of demand or threat. When you sense danger—whether it’s real or imagined—the body’s own defence mechanisms kick into action…The “fight-or-flight” reaction to the situation.
A couple of points…”real or imagined”…We live our lives on our perceptions of reality. 95% of our worries never materialise and with 7 billion people on this earth, help is always there.
Returning to the opening words, stress can be good…We up our game and react to any situation. Don’t confuse stress with adrenalin. It’s a combination of nerves and excitement that give us the adrenalin to perform…What we need!
Not all bad then, but can we prevent stress? We can reduce the likelihood of stress by planning ahead and having a good team around us, and with whom, we communicate effectively. BUT…stress can happen through unexpected events.
What can we do to minimise stress and to cope better…The common actions are to reduce caffeine & alcohol intake, similarly to exercise more…Endorphins created from exercise are a huge help. The internet has many guides to meditation & relaxation.
Try these techniques.
- People like to help. Talk to people that you know and trust
- Where stress happens regularly, start a “mood diary” and score your stress levels out of ten…Look for patterns.
- Take control. Take yourself away from the stressful situation and write down the problem. Come up with as many solutions as you can, and write them down. Which ones can you try?
- Re- examine or create a “to do list”. Prioritise and have two thoughts…What can I delegate/offload, what can I delete altogether! You may be surprised!
- Be assertive. Don’t be the person that says yes to everything…It’s quite ok to say NO! Or perhaps say, yes but next week!
Sometimes certain situations seem unbearable, but events pass, we cope, we survive and we move on, yet when we are faced with stress, we forget and overlook this.
Deep breaths, some clear thinking, confide in a friend, and create an action plan. We always survive.
“Just when you feel you have no time to relax,
know that this is the moment you most need to make time to relax.”
Matt Haig