GET RID OF STRESS…….Enjoy journey of your life.

Abraham Lincoln once said “People are as happy as they make up their minds to be”. In the same way we can say that” People are stressed as they wish to be”. They enter our mind only when they are invited. To lead a life without stress is in our hands.

STRESS is the wear and tear that our body experience as we adjust to our constantly changing environment. Positive or negative feelings are created due to physical and emotional effects. Positive influence is that stress can compel one to action due to new awareness. Positive stress is the stress of winning and achieving. It’s called Eustress.

Negative stress is distress and is the stress of losing, failing, overworking and not coping with the demand of the situation. Negative influence which results in distrust, rejection, anger, depression etc. will lead to health problems. We all experience this from time to time.

Stress is different to different people. Stress situations are unique to every individual and hence diverse and numerous. Stress comes from the demands and pressures of the recent past and the anticipated demands and pressures of the near future. It will be thrilling and exciting in small doses, but too much is always exhausting.

Stress can become acute and can crop up in anyone’s life. What we can do about it is travel at the speed of life. It’s simple and easy when you know how. Go with the flow, neither too fast nor too slow. Keep pace with life. Different stress situations are acute stress, episodic stress and chronic stress.

Episodic acute stress is in those who suffer from acute stress frequently, because their lives are so disordered. They are always in a rush, but always late. Things tend to go wrong and they take on too much. It is common for them to be short tempered, irritable, anxious and tense from ceaseless worry. They see disaster around every corner. Inter personal relationships are affected when others respond with hostility. The key to a cure for this is quite naturally a change in attitude and must choose to change.

Chronic stress is the grinding stress that wears people down day after day, year after year. While acute stress can be thrilling and exiting because it is short term and one can go with the flow. Chronic stress destroys bodies, minds and lives. It wreaks havoc through long term attrition, i.e; reducing ones strength or effectiveness through sustained pressure. Chronic stress comes when a person never sees a way out of a miserable situation like broken families, trapped in unhappy marriages, hateful jobs etc. With no hope they gives up searching for solutions and get used to it forgetting it is there.

Chronic stress kills. People wear down to a final fatal breakdown. The only hope, of course, is to move out from the stress zone physically and if that is not possible move out mentally by get going by getting tough.

As Ted Engstrom, an American evangelical leader and writer said “Life is about twenty percent in what happens to us and eighty percent in the way we respond to the events”. Every individual is unique and therefore stress too is unique to every person. No two personalities are ever identical and as such each person’s threshold of tolerance is also different and unique.

When people offer advice, try to trust them and follow their suggestions. Since one cannot sort out which worry is worse than another, sit down and make a list in order of priority. Make a real effort to communicate with other people and imagine oneself in other people’s shoes. Better still, take the initiative to choose to change instead of relying too much on others to bail one out. Awareness, acceptance and an attitude that is positive are the keys to freedom from stress and its related maladies. Reach out, share, smile, hug and get into the rhythm of life and realise that true happiness lies within you. Have realistic expectations, stay with reality and strive to make things better, not perfect. Think positively and leave the valley of doom and stress far behind you and enjoy the journey of life.

(Ref :Rupa sitagita and various other articles)s)

STRESS MANAGEMENT—IT IS THE ATTITUDE AND PREPAREDNESS

Dr. Albert Ellis, an American psychologist who in 1955 developed rational emotive Behaviour therapy stated that:

“People and things do not upset us, rather we upset ourselves by believing that they can upset us”

Yes this is one reason which leads us to stress. Different situations which they face for survival by each human being in their lives are to be managed. Here comes one’s attitude and beliefs, these two things determine how one behaves. This may be influenced by internal thinking, external circumstances which lead to management by self to survive different situations as mentioned above.

As we know the body is gifted to serve others. Here different situations are faced by the body (which includes internal self and systems) to survive the demand made on it. Body responds to the increase in demand by more physical, mental and chemical variations in it. This change affects the attitude and behaviour. This influence is by the nervous system which allows the human beings to think—the pressure is generated through increased demand which produces stress hormones by pituitary and adrenal glands regrouping the body to face the demand.

Richard S Lazarus, a renowned psychologist of 20^th century stated that stress as a result from an imbalance between demands and resources.

If we think from the angle of a service provider or a manager—he has to face agitated customers, shortage of staff /resources, his authorities for not reaching the allotted targets even after putting in his best efforts etc etc. he cannot explode nor express his emotions and therefore the stress situations keep on repeating day by day, breaking down his adaptability capacity forcing him to breakdown. This affects his health leading to increased blood pressure, palpitation, sleep disorders, insomnia, heart diseases, stomach problems etc

To cope up with stress is to manage it properly. Stress is that one occurring when pressure exceeds one’s ability to cope. We cannot avoid stress altogether in life. One have to live with it. One should not ruin life by ignoring it and this is where management comes. Without stress, what is life? Life is a Snakes and Ladders game. Snakes are the risks and ladders are the opportunities in life. We need to play it and move forward. Shocks in life leads to stress, overcoming it is management. One needs to be resilient to adapt to these conditions. Always try to be the right person for the situation demanded and adapt to the circumstances, enjoy it and use it to one’s advantage. Learn to prioritise and do what you love. It is the technique one can use to relax and this will definitely lessen the stress level. Physical exercise is another way to counter stress like yoga, exercises etc. Be positive and cheerful in attitude so that negative thoughts are driven away. These are the healthy ways to deal with stress.

Many people resort to unhealthy ways to deal with stress like drinking, smoking, drugs etc which will lead to more harmful things like addiction rather than lessening the level of stress.

To conclude, don’t ignore stress but tune your belief system to interpret and judge things positively avoiding negative thoughts. This allows a positive behavioural pattern, preparedness and expectations which gives a solution for stress management.