Stress management

By: Scott Meyers
Stress can hit a person from many different directions. It can creep up on you, slowly, and catch you off guard; or it can loom large on the horizon like a beacon ever present and demanding. Stress can be financial in nature, or related to your job. Stress can occur at home in your personal relationships or it can stem from dealings with your neighbor. You can experience physical stress, and mental anguish. Long-term stress can cause physical illness. Stress makes us do things we may not ordinarily do and stress can motivate us to make necessary changes in our lives.

Stress can be stimulating and even exciting. There are those who seek stress out, like those who are risk takers or 'adrenaline junkies'. Stress can be work-related, can be something that is triggered by a person or event in your life, can be caused by someone or something, can affect our health and can rob our brain of all reason and sensibility.

Stress can affect our health and it can prevent happiness. It can lead to unhealthy behavior that can ruin lives. Stress can be debilitating, and can change your body image. Stress can lead to depression and depression can destroy families. Stress is serious business and needs to be addressed when it happens to you or someone you love.

We can experience stress from others, or from situations; we can even create our own stress by putting unrealistic expectations on ourselves. Therefore stress can have external and internal causes.

Learning how to manage stress relieves stress. When stress is managed it becomes more bearable and can be handled with purpose and clarity.

Stress can be experienced by adults, children, even babies. It can happen to any of us. Our pets can also become stressed when owners leave them in a kennel while on vacation, or when a family experiences a move, or new family member.

The first step in managing stress is identifying it. You have to name and claim your stress before you can manage it. Hiding from it or ignoring it will only give it more strength.

Calming down can reduce stress; changing the environment can also reduce stress. Stress can also render some to be unresponsive and unable to function.

Stress and how we deal with it can separate the men from the boys. It can also empower executives to lead their company from the brink of disaster to the pinnacle of success.

Stress can motivate you to reexamine a decision or investigate a situation that may be harmful to someone. Our bodies have a fight or flight reaction to stress.

Once we recognize these stress triggers and indicators we can immediately start to do quick methods of reducing stress; like deep breathing, or doing a physical activity like taking a walk. Knowing the physical signs of stress and identifying stressful situations in our life can help us to be healthier as we learn to reduce our stress levels.