Three Tips To Help Manage Stress
Stress. Just the word fills us with all sorts of emotions: dread, guilt, anxiety and more, but what exactly is stress? Stress is usually the bucket word we use to describe events in our lives we cannot quite control but have to manage in some way, be it expected or unexpected. Stress is also a source for much of our illnesses, being blamed for everything from heart disease to general malaise, but how do we avoid stress? Pretty much anything worth doing, anything with high rewards, has stress. From high stake bets on the markets to raising children to pushing for levels of success in your career, all of these things are stuff we can agree on being worthy to strive for, yet all these things also carry with them intense stress at times. Where do we draw the line between stress worth taking and stress worth leaving?
The answer for this is of course very situational. You cannot say that we take all stress as worthy stress that involves career, there is much unrewarding stress there. You cannot completely eliminate any aspect of your life as unworthy stress but you can learn how to decipher between things worth the stress and things that are not. Using the same ideas of worth and cost, you can look at stresses in your life and quickly decide if it is one worth taking. Here are three questions to ask yourself when you find yourself being stressed out by something in your life.
1- Why is this Stress happening?
The first thing you are going to ask yourself is, why is this stress happening? Is it directly something you did wrong such as oversleeping, forgetting to do something or some other blooper. If so, then ask yourself is the task time sensitive? If it is something that must be done asap and is your fault, then yes you need to take on the stress for this task. If you have a lot of these blooper style stressors in your life, it might also be time to look at your goal setting and time management skills. Making mistakes is human, but continually taking a beating because of little faux pas is the sign of deeper issues that are impacting your performance. If you feel this is the case then you have a whole other problem at hand besides stress and need to jump over to our articles at https://www.bullionite.com/blog-index, on time management and goal setting.
2- What is the reward for this Stress?
What do you hope to gain in your life by taking this stress on? Is it a fight with someone you care about deeply, for example? Then if the relationship is important to you it is important to take on the stress from the argument or issue, but not just across the board. If it is something that routinely happens in your life then again, the issue may not actually be the fight but why it keeps happening. For example, if you have a manager that expects you to be at a meeting 15 minutes before the scheduled meeting and you just don't have the ability to do that but keep saying yes, you will constantly have a fight about timeliness. This does not mean you have to throw the whole job away, but it does mean you have to be more forthright about your abilities.
3- How could you replace this Stress in your life?
If you are in the position where you are really having high levels of stress pushed on you, it may be time for you to weigh the pros and cons of the item in your life. This is especially true if the previous two questions have been applied unsuccessfully to the stressor and it is still causing you grief. Now is the time to ask, why is this in my life, how is it benefitting me and how would I replace this stressor in my life? This is only when you have gone through the other two questions unsuccessfully. Once that has happened it is time to start asking the hard questions about how to replace the benefits in your life this stressor causes you without as much of the stress. Is it possible? If so, what are the pros and cons of making this switch? If it looks like it is time to cut this stressor, be it a job, relationship or habit, once it has been identified you must act quickly. Rip the band aid off and start putting your energy and effort into something that serves you. Reach out to us at info@bullionite.com with your comments and questions.