With over 350 million working days a year lost to stress and stress related illness. Stress is not in itself a bad thing indeed it is an important mechanism which helps us to enhance our performance when we need that extra boost. Learning to manage stress is one of the most effective ways of making a difference to your life.There are many symptoms that you might experience as a result of stress. Perhaps you have experienced some of them for example mood swings, anger, irritability, feeling tense, feeling sick, indigestion , aches, pains, headaches and palpitations.
Perhaps you have found that you have been trying to cope by withdrawing from friends, family, or colleagues. Perhaps you have turned to alcohol or drugs to cope. Perhaps you have been feeling depressed or even had thoughts of harming yourself.
Yet stress can be managed through simple steps. Although each one is simple when practiced over time they have a cumulative effect that puts you back in the driving seat.
Activity has been shown to have a positive effect on stress. It gives an outlet for all of the hormones of the fight or flight response, it also provides a space in which you can decompress from the situation. Activity always frightens people because they imaging hours spent pounding on a treadmill, yet a walk in the park is activity as is a cycle with family or friends, the important thing is to get moving.
Looking after yourself and finding some time for yourself, the important thing is to acknowledge that you have needs and that you need to look after yourself as much as any other person. So spend some time on something you enjoy.
Setting small achievable goals for yourself can help. The important thing here is to keep you moving in the direction that you want to move with your life. Start with small achievable goals so that you can see your successes.
Avoid unhelpful habits like drinking and smoking which can serve to remind us of our problems or make you feel more down.
Learn time management, there are many useful books on the subject. Books like “Getting things done” can really make a difference in working smarter rather than harder. Making the best of the time you have.
Finally a counsellor can make a difference by offering a space that you can look at how you are feeling and the progress that you are making. It offers a space where you can be honest about your progress and have a non-judgemental alternative perspective on what is going on. It could be the thing that helps make the change.