StressManagement

Is stress something you struggle to manage?

​I was thinking about stress management yesterday, and how misleading that term can be. The term stress management is a broad term and encompasses many key objectives that I fully agree with, but when you are stressed, it is often too late to manage that stress.
The nervous system is firing on all cylinders, the stress hormones are on fire, and adrenaline is GO!

This means that you only really manage your stress, when you are NOT stressed...

The definition of stress that I adhere to is: Stress is the perception of the load you carry. To me, this shows clearly that stress is something that happens differently to each person. What is a challenge for one person can be the breaking point for someone else.
So it's really all about how you manage the load you carry, and how you change the perception of the load you think you can carry. "It is all too much", "I got too much to do"... I am so stressed... because I have so much to do, i.e. the load is getting too heavy, and I am not coping.

The key to managing the load is awareness.
What is making me stressed? i.e. how much load can I carry?
What is the fine line between the load being a challenge that I rise up to, and when does it become too heavy ? This is something that only you can answer.

It is your life, after all, so you get to decide your limits and boundaries.

I find that for me, the real stressors comes from external pressures, meaning, I feel great about tasks and challenges that I myself have created (often a creative endeveour) but as soon as I attach the tag of 'I have to do this', or even worse; 'I should do this', or 'I have to do this', and it becomes a negative factor, the load increases three fold. It's a lot like deadlines created at work, and tasks that pile up, their importance determined by someone else.

We cannot escape the deadlines, or the tasks delegated to us, of course. They are there to stay. But you can manage yourself, your attitude, and if the load is too heavy, you can speak up. Not always easy, of course, as your workplace might be competetive, or high achieveing, or it is simply part of your job. Also it may be pressures at home, not work, that adds to your load. We cannot all afford full time house cleaners or chefs, after all... So start small. Become aware of how you operate, listen in to yourself.
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For this, I would suggest some journaling (with prompts), just 5 minutes of asking yourself a question and then answer it. Or some time-out; going for a walk outside without looking at your phone, or even some mindless coloring-in to take your mind off well, your mind. You will be surprise what happens in your brain when you focus on something else rather than the problem. Your brain starts to problem solve by itself.

The 30-Day Digital Journal, with 30 promtps for stressmanagement

​Why journal?

• A journal is a safe place to vent, to 'dump' your thoughts on paper, which clears up mental space.
• Clears your mind: Writing in your journal helps unload thoughts so they don’t keep spinning.
• It reduces stress: Writing down your worries on paper makes them feel lighter.
• Builds self-awareness: You start to notice patterns in your habits and moods when you see them on paper.
• ​Problem solving: Seeing things in writing often makes solutions clearer.
• Boost focus: Journaling trains your brain to slow down and pay attention.

And of course, why not try a 15-minute break with a chair massage at work? 
With this short session, we start to activate the parasympathetic nervous system which works to relax and slow down the body’s stress response. When the parasympathetic nervous system is activated,
it produces a calm and relaxed feeling in the mind and body.
Because our sessions are short, you will feel relaxed but not too tired and are able to go back to work straight after.