Overwhelmed, agitated, unable to cope?
Who isn’t all too familiar with these feelings? I am sure that there isn’t an adult in the Western World who doesn’t feel stress, at least on occasion.
So, what do we get stressed about?
Our job, family relationsh
ips, holidays, financial constraints, sitting in traffic when we should be at work, an illness, fearing the worst and so on.
There are 1,001 things that can cause us to become so overwhelmed that we can no longer move. What needs to be understood, however, is that it isn’t the things that cause us stress, but the meaning we attach to those things, that stop us from breathing freely. Thus, stress begins in our thoughts and as we all have control over what we think, we can also control our stress levels.
How do we go about doing that?
The first step toward effective stress reduction is the identification of our major stressors.
Often, writing them down helps to identify them. When our list is complete, we need to avoid the temptation to try and deal with every stressor at once, but determine to attack one at a time.
To begin with, it’s a good idea to select the one that will make the biggest difference or we feel best equipped to change. Then we need to decide how we can best achieve this change, formulate a realistic and workable strategy, and put it into action.
Prolonged stress can be extremely damaging to our health. It’s been known to cause serious illness, anxiety, sometimes to the point of panic attacks and depression. Don’t allow yourself to get to that point – seek help early!