Managing
Stress
Uzma Mazhar
Learning to successfully manage stress begins
with our willingness to take an honest look at ourselves.
Although people and situations do contribute
to stress, the events that affect people from the outside are beyond their
control. It is very easy to blame stress on other people or situations
that the individuals cannot control. It is more productive to take
personal responsibility for the stress that an individual experiences and
to look for things that he or she can change. It is more effective
to learn to "manage" stress than to simply "reduce"
stress.
One can reduce stress by taking a vacation or
just by pulling the covers back over his or her head in the morning
(hasn't worked for me so far, let me know if it works for you ;-).
However, the vacation will not last forever, and eventually one will
return to face everything that he or she was trying to escape. Hope
and pray that it will vanish??? Doesn't work either. Accept
that stress will always be a part of life. Success and happiness
will depend on how well one can cope with, or manage stress.
Managing
stress requires taking an active role and to take responsibility for your
own thoughts, feelings and behaviors.
Stressful
events can be viewed as obstacles or as opportunities to learn how to
manage them better. Identifying stressful situations is the first step in
managing stress. When people find what causes their stress and begin to
understand why it is stressful, they have already started managing stress.
Once identified you then need to commit to changing yourself. It
takes time and energy to make change happen. For many people, the
most difficult part of learning to manage stress is finding the time. It
may seem that lack of time is one of the main causes of stress; there is
just not enough time to accomplish what life demands. When people feel
overwhelmed, it is difficult to begin. How can one find the additional
time necessary to learn to manage stress? This attitude misses the
point.
Looking
within to see what it is in your beliefs and attitudes that creates
stress. How do you see life? Is everything a pain or an
opportunity for growth? Is life a lesson for self-improvement or a
difficult test?
Stress Management Techniques
Many techniques can help to manage stress. No one technique is best for
everybody. Each person must decide what will work best for him/her. It is
not helpful to recommend exercise for someone who hates physical activity,
and it is difficult for someone to meditate if they hate to sit still. All
stress management techniques are simply tools. It is best when
people use their own judgment and intuition to decide which techniques to
use.
Exercise
Exercise is one of the best ways to manage stress. Aerobic exercise,
exercise that makes the heart and lungs work harder, actually helps the
body use up excess stress-induced hormones. Exercise also helps lift one's spirits and decrease depression. Exercise
is most helpful if it is practiced consistently. Start slow and stick with
it. Twenty or 30 minutes of exercise four or five times a week is ideal,
but even much less can help individuals to relax and cope with stressful
situations more effectively. The specific type of exercise or the amount
of time spent exercising is not as important as whether or not someone can
make exercise a regular part of his/her life. Walking is the perfect
exercise for many people. Jogging, swimming and bicycling are other
popular types of aerobic exercises. Choose an exercise that you
enjoy and chances are you will stick with it.
Meditation
Meditation is a very effective stress management technique. A
relaxed, settled mind is less anxious and copes better with stress.
Meditation creates a deep sense of relaxation and mental clarity.
Anxious fears about the past or the future become less troubling.
Meditation, transcendental meditation, yoga and relaxation exercises are
very effective when practiced consistently. Other
effective and widely-used stress-management techniques include progressive
muscle relaxation, massage and biofeedback.
Also see:
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