Stress - How Do You Cope?
By Michael Russell
Stress - now there’s a word I’m sure we can all relate to. It is something most of us deal with on a regular basis.
All of us have different ways of dealing with stress though. There are those who are generally relaxed sort of people and treat most things like water of a ducks back. Stress is not a huge issue to these people. Then there are those who realise they are in a stressful situation and make the decision to work through it as best they can and then be done with it. Lastly, there are the people for whom stress can cause such a huge burden in their every day life. These people may fall into a stressful situation and panic, or worry themselves sick, who instantly look to the negative and start to fall apart.
For these people stress can be such a problem in their lives that they can become physically sick as a result of years of stress and not being able to deal with it well. Some people are just naturally born worriers; they worry about themselves and their children. They worry about illnesses that often aren’t there, they worry about how they look to other people, they are hesitant to speak up and be heard because they worry about looking silly or making a mistake.
After many years of stress and having tensions built up can lead to physical problems. Muscle aches and pains can be a daily problem for people you can’t deal with stress well. Jaw clenching can cause jaw problems, teeth problems and headaches. Tension headaches are very common with people who are stressed and often can’t be helped with normal pain killers.
Not only do the physical problems become harder to bear, but stress also causes long term emotional problems. You stress over being stressed, your days gradually become more stressful and less enjoyable. You may get to a point where you spend the entire day stressing over everything and nothing. You become miserable and due to your moods, your friends don’t spend as much time with you, making you more miserable. You become less sociable, you become less active and these things themselves cause more and more stress upon you.
So where do you go from here? When stress has this bad an effect on your life and you are stuck in the downward spiral it can be very hard to get back on track, back to the good life. You need to believe that you can do it and want to be able to do it. You have to stop sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself and get up and do something about it. Go for a walk, get some fresh air, clear your head.
Take up an exercise, even if its once a week to start off with, try and do it with a friend, that way you are more likely to keep doing it and not giving up. Do an aerobics or yoga class, something where you are being active and at the same time, it will take your mind of the things that you are stressing about. This is the hardest thing to do - get your mind off the problem that is worrying you, but it is what you need to learn to do to be able to cope with stressful situations better. I’m not saying don’t worry about anything, but you need to step back and look at the situation, put it into perspective, do whatever you can do to fix or help the situation and when you have done all you can then step back. This is the time when you need to take a break, go for a walk, breathe deeply, clear your head, give your mind a break. Quite often when you have taken a break, learn to relax and when you come back, you may see the problem in a whole different way and find a solution much easier.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Stress
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell
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