Managing Daily Stress

Last article talked about striving to have our lives balanced much like that of the legs on a stool.  Each of the three legs would represent our personal, professional and social lives.  In this article, we will examine the ever-timely subject of Stress.

It is most important for us to recognize that the subject of stress is complex enough to lend itself to an entire book.  (Now that I think about it - it’s not a bad idea!)  Most of the literature that we have researched has examined stress within the content of encouraging you to avoid it.  I believe strongly that stress cannot be avoided and that is why our seminars are entitled, “Stress Management.”  Stress is as inevitable as taxes, death and temptation.  I want to encourage you to focus on managing it on a daily basis as opposed to expending resources trying to avoid it.  This article will address types of stress and guideline for its management.

Stress can be caused by both pleasant and unpleasant situations.  We are most familiar with Distress, which is caused by bad or unpleasant situations and fears.  Eustress, on the other hand, is associated with good or pleasant situations or anticipation.  Distress is fairly easy to identify.  I believe that it will be more frequently manifested in situations where anxiety and worry become dominant.  When we worry, the images that are sent to the subconscious are those that depict the worst possible outcomes.  As a result, our body will physiologically react by increasing the heartbeat, making the lungs work harder and significantly slowing down the digestive system.  A number of other internal reactions may occur and all of them will be preparing us for the “fight or flight” syndrome.  In Eustress, the mere anticipation of something pleasant can create in us feelings and reactions associated with stress. 

Sources of daily stress are either internally or externally generated.  Internal sources would include your own perceptions of any particular situation.  These perceptions are molded by our personal experiences, fears and dreams.  In fact, a lack of specific goals is one of the most common sources of internal stress.  I have always appreciated the example I once heard about a hunter, who goes to the edge of the woods…fires an arrow and exclaims, “I sure hope a deer runs in front of that one!”  The hunter that would experience significantly less stress and who is more capable of feeding his family, is the one who establishes a goal and waits until an opportunity presents itself before firing.  He is the one who knows what it is that he specifically needs to accomplish and has a plan to get there.  He is prepared to seize the opportunity when it appears and spends time, prior to that, preparing.  That is the undisputed value of expressed written goals.  Other areas of internally generated stress are linked to a lack of self-recognition and existing in an unbalanced life.  Externally generated sources of stress can be concerns about the weather or even other people’s stress.  We need to be sensitive to the effect that these sources may have on us.  In many cases, these are sources of stress for which we have absolutely no control over. 

Stress Management techniques will vary from trainer to trainer.  Here are a few suggestions that are sure to have value for you.  We live now in a society that facilitates selfishness and judgement.  That proves to be a catalyst for stress in many of our lives.  Remember that it takes two boxers in the ring to have a match and two dancers on the floor to waltz.  The next time you are in a situation of potential conflict with someone else, ask yourself if you are trying to box or waltz.  Are your defensive walls up and your armies ready?  Are you preparing for war in the ring?  For if one of you refuses to make this an all out battle then it will surely lower the stress level for at least one of you.  When you take a stand based on understanding and patience, it actually has positive consequences on your long-term self-esteem as well as to serve to reduce your physiological response to a potentially negative situation.  I am sensitive to the fact that this may not always be possible, however we should recognize that it is an option in the vast majority of these situations. 

Another powerful strategy is to fuel the body for the task of managing stress.   Significantly cut back on red meat and eat more vegetables, fruits and breads.  Have you ever felt sleepy and groggy after defeating the world’s largest cut of beef?  This feeling occurs because red meat requires so much more blood for digestion that other systems of the body are compromised.  This denies a rich supply of oxygen to other organs such as the brain.  Needless to say, you are more likely to kick into stress mode than you might normally be. Remember, if the body feels good, then the mind feels good and subsequently that can be one of your strongest sources of Stress Management. 

Couple that with exercise and the increase of your self-confidence will help to create an anti-stress armor that I am sure will make you proud.

Continue to read and ask about ways to increase your self-care.  It was Dr. Robert Eliot who after a life threatening event said that there are two rules to handling stress in life; “Rule number one, don’t sweat the small stuff. Rule number two, everything is small stuff!”

Remember that the place to change the world is in your own heart.

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