HANDLING STRESS

Whatever part of the world you’re in you can’t escape it, it’s inevitable. Whether it’s escapable or preventable is a story for another day. Just looking at the title of the word just brings some sort of disturbance/ annoyance, irritation and a whole sense of overwhelming and over thinking to your mind. Completely unnecessary if you ask me yet we go through it each and every day or part of our life. It completely drains our energy and changes our whole mood and ultimately destroys our whole rhythm. Seconds passed minutes let running hours wasted and whole days disoriented just cause of some sort of event ahead or past or thought that is fixated in your mind that frustrates you or puts you in an anxious state.

?How am I supposed to handle all these by myself? Is the question that grips our mind at this moment? ?It’s sad to know and think that one small scenario or event can make you distraught or reset your whole attitude. Though here’s a boner how you choose to handle the situation aftermath or the actions you take completely depends on you. Stress is usually your body’s reaction towards a challenge or demand or pressure.

It can easily be triggered when we experience something new, unexpected or that threatens our sense of living. There’s not many of us out there who can say they haven’t experienced ?exhaustion, sleep- deprivation, body aches and pains, headaches and dizziness, Heart racing at a thousand miles per hour, sexual problems, high blood pressure, weak immune systems all casualties of stress. The worse thing is that if stress is not managed or handled in an appropriate manner it can lead to other emotional and mental symptoms like Anxiety or Irritability, frequent Panic attacks, Depression and Sadness.

One thing you need to understand is that stress is subjective, meaning it cannot be measured with tests. Only the person experiencing the feeling can tell you if they’re presently in that state and how severe it is. In this current generation of ours though very few people will approach or open up to you about their current physical and mental state. Being vulnerable is seen and viewed as being sensitive and weak and can easily be exploited to other people’s gain.

Having been on the other side of the spectrum though I can confess to you that it is the most horrid time and moment you can truly face as an individual. You seek for an outlet or medium to divulge or share your struggles and hurdles to, but ultimately no one to turn to as fear soon grips you and stops you from sharing or airing out your thoughts or state. We are forced to live and stay in the dark with all our sorrows, guilt, pressures and challenges all to ourselves and made to dig ourselves out of the dark abyss.

But looking back at it none of these situations truly helps or benefits parties at the end of it. For Example, an employee who is under stress cannot perform his duties at the highest level; his input energy and work put would be considerably low, thus affecting the workflow of the administration thereby leading to a dip in the company. It is a generally stated fact and known worldwide business norm that happy motivated and stress free employee leads to a better yielding and result- oriented firm growing. Thus to produce better results or achieve the firm’s goals a company has to keep and maintain its employees’ that includes their physical as well as mental state too.

Putting that aside I do feel that people shouldn’t feel stigmatized by peer pressure from seeking guidance and counseling or any form of help for that matter in helping them deal or properly manage their stress and channeling that energy into good and positive outcome and use. It’s natural in this day and age to feel and take in all the weights of the world all on your shoulder but when that feeling becomes overbearing or overwhelming feel free to seek out help from a Therapist or any Healthcare worker for advice.

?Stress can so often be easily triggered for example, when we experience something new, unexpected or a sense of warning or danger in our life, or when we have little control over a situation. Truth be told we all deal and handle stress differently and our ability to cope can depend on various factors like our Genetics, early life events, Personality and social and economic circumstances. Usually when our body encounters Stress they react by producing hormones that triggers some kind of response or fight or flight response that activates our immune system, this in turn helps us in reacting quickly to dangerous or life- threatening situations. Bet few of you knew that.

On a positive and light note this stress response can be advantageous in the fact that it can aid us push through any fear or pain barrier. Now I want you to think of a traumatizing moment in your life or a time when you had to pull and push through a terrified moment in your life. Have you done that yet? What was that traumatizing moment? How did you feel moments before leading up to it? How did you feel getting passed through it? I can only imagine the chills and butterflies going and running through your body.

Think about it, could be giving a presentation to a thousand plus strangers, delivering a speech to your fellow colleagues, singing or dancing for the first time in front of a huge audience or publishing your first article or any other events or activities, point is you have no idea how any of this will go or be received. Once this events or moments have passed our stress hormones will go back to normal. Too much stress though can have a negative effect or impact on us and leave us in a long- lasting or permanent stage fighting or unable to cope or even overwhelmed.

Though even positive life changes such as getting a job promotion, going to study abroad for the first time, moving to a new house or neighborhood can all be sources of stress. To deal or combat with stress you need to know what triggers your stress or indicators and signs of stress such as;

·??????Fear

·??????Depression

·??????Aggressiveness

·??????Anxiety

·??????Sadness

·??????Frustration

If this signs are not managed or controlled they can easily cause physical and mental harm to you. Though not to keep you in the dark, stress is manageable and there’re things or activities you can do to relieve or make you feel less tense or overwhelmed.

1.??Start addressing the issue when stress becomes a problem.

Once you notice the onset of stress most probably the physical and emotional signs are connected together or tied to the pressures you’re facing. Don’t brush aside or ignore physical signs such as Migraines or Muscle aches they could be the start of something much worse. Instead address this issues head on, find out what’s causing the stress and work towards fixing or getting a solution. Always keep in mind and know that things will get better with time and learn to let go of the things you know are out of your control. Learn to set realistic expectations for yourself and know that taking small strides towards improving your life or situation can come a long way.

2.??Build and nurture good supportive relationships.

It’s always refreshing and good to have a strong back= bone to whom you can revere to. Make sure you make friends and nurture relationships with family members who will help, guide, motivate, encourage, build you up, support, advice and will be with you for the long run ahead in life even when things get thick and tough. Also you’d be surprised to know even activities such as Volunteering can give you a whole new perspective and even have a beneficial impact on your mood.

3.??Have and Eat a Balanced diet full of Nutrition.

I think this should be a no brainer, for you to live a healthy life both physical and mental you need to check and watch what you eat. You need to get enough nutrients including essential vitamins and minerals and add them into your daily diet. For your body to stay strong and healthy so as to help fight against things like stress or micro= organisms, you need to supply it with enough nutrients and minerals and vitamins to remain strong and healthy. A healthy body also leads to a healthy mind. A Healthy diet can generally improve your mood and aid your mental wellbeing.

4.??Get some or do some Physical Exercise

This has been proven on numerous occasions that doing or partaking in any physical exercise helps reducing and managing your stress levels by producing endorphins which in turn boosts your mood. Any little activity can go long way trust me on that or not your choice really, even effort as little as doing 20-30 sit ups a day or taking a 20 minute walking can do wonders for you.

5.??Get adequate sleep

A lot of people tend to forget this part of routine in their life most probably thinking it’s a non quintessential matter, though it has been proven scientifically lately that getting good adequate amounts of sleep is equally important in boosting your health and managing your stress levels. Avoid consuming too much caffeine or reduce and limit your screen time right before you sleep if you’re having difficulties sleeping.

6.??Practice Self= esteem, Self- love and good self- talk

Remember that no one on this earth is perfect but a work in progress. No one has all the answers and by the slight chance they do not at once. Everyone on this Earth is on their own Self- journey to discover themselves including you. We are all different and unique in our own way don’t compare your path to someone else’s. A little self- love and positive self- talk can be the motivation and inspiration you need to go through your day and journey. If you lose hope and start doubting yourself you set yourself up for failure and a stressful life. Always remember that small strides and small achievements matter to no matter how little.

Lastly if you still feel loaded or overwhelmed by stress it’s advised that you seek and consult with Professionals who can help you better manage and treat stress. The sooner you seek help the better the chance of you processing and start to feel relieved or better. Let your doctor, Therapist, Psychologist or any Professional you seek help know how you feel, it never helps bottling all your struggles inside by yourself. They would and should be able to advise you or come up with treatment or better stress coping mechanisms that could help you. For more information regarding stress and the stress coping mechanisms you can decide to check on more Mental Health Organization articles regarding stress.

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