Everyone has to deal with stressful situations. This is because sadly stressful situations are just part of life, but thankfully these unpleasant situations are normally few and far between.
However, lots of people go through times that are extremely stressful. When this happens it is hard to eat food, it is hard to sleep and you may even feel physically sick. Over time it can start to feel like stress is the only constant feeling in your life, which is mentally draining.
If you can relate to this, you should spend some time every day actively dealing with the stress in your life.
Here are 6 ways to deal with stress.
1. Start A Stress Diary
Make a note of the date, the time and your location every time you feel stressed out, and rate how stressed you feel out of ten. This will make it easier for you to discover which situations make you feel stressed, so you can start to think about how to avoid that situation. For instance, if you only ever feel stressed when you are with one friend, cut them out of your life!
2. Start A To Do List
A to-do list will make it easier for you to feel like you are in control of your life, and it will make the stressful tasks seem less overwhelming.
3. Shorten Your To Do List
I know this may seem like a contradiction but to-do lists can only help so much – and if you start overburdening yourself with tasks, you will soon feel stressed again. If your to-do list always makes you feel stressed you may need to drop a few things, such as a hobby or an extra commitment. It can be difficult to do less, but it will help if you always feel stressed.
4. Just Focus On One Thing
Choose one task to deal with, and when it is done start thinking about the next task. This can be hard to do but it will reduce your feelings of stress and fear.
5. Say No If You Want To
Some people feel like they have to say yes to everyone, because when they say no they feel like they are letting people down. However, in reality you are letting down yourself if you say yes when you don’t want to!
6. Avoid Using A Crutch
Lots of people turn to a crutch during stressful times, such as smoking, drinking or eating junk food. While I am not personally judging you for having a crutch, it does make it a lot easier to avoid dealing with the stressful situation! This is because people often think “this is stressful, so I’m going to smoke” rather than thinking “this is stressful, so I’m going to try and think of solutions to solve the problem.” Next time you feel stressed spend five minutes thinking about possible solutions before you go to your crutch.
Talk to someone about your problems.
Many times in our lives we cannot see a solution to our problems, but it may be that someone else can.
Not only that but sometimes the simple action of putting your problems in words that others can understand can help you find a solution yourself.
Seek professional help.
Counsellors and psychpherapists can be a great help to those with more serious needs.
Exercise.
When you are depressed or stressed chemicals are released into your system. You can counter these, in the short term, by making your body release happy chemicals to balance them out.
Sex, solo or otherwise, can get you that same release of chemicals.
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All really good points! Especially talking to someone. Sometimes things can be so muddled in our heads that we simply can’t see a way out, but someone else can normally provide a positive perspective. Thank you for your comment! 🙂
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In general, people have no idea how much harm stress causes. It is an emotion that trigger REAL damaging hormones that affect ALL organs and seriously .interferes with immune function. What it doesn’t do is reveal itself on a tangible level prior to inducing these harms.
Your 6 suggestions are more important than some may realize. If stress is an ongoing concern for any individual, it needs to be addressed in a POSITIVE healthy manner to avoid sickness and early death.
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The source of my stress is usually work. Do people really lose appetite when stressed? When I am in a bad mood I try to battle the blues by chowing down on sweets.
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Me too… I can eat 10 bags of crisps (or chips) when I am stressed!
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