What are some effective ways to identify and address sources of stress in your personal life?

1. Self-awareness: Reflect on your feelings and behaviors to identify specific stressors. Journaling can be helpful. 2. Prioritization: Determine which stressors are most pressing and address them first. 3. Time management: Organize your tasks and create a schedule to reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed. 4. Boundaries: Set clear boundaries with others to protect your personal time and energy. 5. Relaxation techniques: Practice deep breathing, meditation, or yoga to manage stress. 6. Physical activity: Regular exercise can reduce stress and boost mood. 7. Social support: Talk to friends or family about your stressors, and consider seeking professional help if needed.

Personal stress can be due to many factors such as caring for relatives regardless of their age. This can lead to high demands of time especially trying to be organised. It is important to set boundaries and to keep a calendar either on a mobile phone or a physical calendar. Ensure there is time for self care and to be able to take time out to reduce stress and be more resilient to stress. This can be by enjoying a hobby or even going for a walk or meet a friend. It is essential not to feel guilty when having time to recharge, as it is important that individuals are fit and healthy to care for others if that is one of their responsibilities.

For many people the basic skill is self management. Sometimes relaxation needs to be done cleverly - sometimes it is possible only after the 'release' of tension. It is important to learn to understand your energy and tension levels and choose the appropriate method - choose relaxation for low energy, but choose movement techniques to lower tension. And chose rest for renewal and low effort training to increase metabolism...

Taking care of oneself is rarely nice and easy, but is worth the effort. One can build throughout life the self management skills - and whatever you can do to build discipline, good self awareness, knowledge of healthy habits, time management and assertiveness - all of it will add to your ability to take care of yourself.

In order to prevent burnout, it’s really important to differentiate between addressing the stressor versus the stress response. The stressor is the problem needing to be solved or dealt with. In contrast, the stress response is the flight, fight, or shut down response the stressor causes in your brain, nervous system and body. While it’s important to deal with the stressor itself, it is also incredibly important to complete the stress response cycle which can be done by engaging in cardio exercise, deep, breathing, positive social interaction, laughter, affection, crying, and creative expressions that allow us to feel our emotions. The stress response is meant to be a brief response to an acute situation, not a prolonged or chronic state.

It helps to keep Mindfulness in action as we run through stresses of different kinds. Checking on ourselves every once in a while during the day is a healthy practice to understand our thoughts and feelings. Connections of stimulus-response gives us an edge in taking appropriate steps to deal with stress.