Stress is what happens when you have so much to deal with emotionally or physically, and the burdens overwhelm you. This is why you can deal with many stressors, and then all of a sudden, something minor like dropping a glass of milk makes you start crying or feels like the final straw. Dealing with stress head-on is always best. Here are six of twelve ways that you can effectively do that.
Lower Your Expectations
One reason people have stress is that their expectations are out of whack. They have high expectations for other people and for themselves, so when things don’t work out as they expected, they feel not only disappointed but stressed as well.
You can tell if your expectations are causing you stress if you think that your life wasn’t supposed to turn out the way that it has – or if you think your partner wasn’t supposed to behave the way he or she did.
It causes you stress because you were expecting something you didn’t receive. You feel disappointment that the picture in your mind wasn’t painted correctly in reality. Relief from stress is found by having realistic expectations for yourself and for the others in your life as well.
Learn to accept yourself and others for who they are. When you consider your life, rather than feeling stressed about what hasn’t worked out, focus on the good that has. Stop putting pressure and stress on yourself to do more or to be more.
Find a Hobby You Enjoy
When you find something you like doing, it acts as a stress reliever because it gives you an outlet. A hobby can be a way for you to release the anxiety and pent up emotions that go along with dealing with stress.
You can get involved in music such as finding new songs or new bands. You can check out the local music scene where you live and attend free music festivals or shows for singers and bands just getting started.
Painting and other creative things, such as sketching or coloring, can be a hobby that works as a stress outlet. There’s also journaling. You don’t have to be good at writing to journal.
It’s just putting words down that are talking about how you’re feeling or what’s gone on during your day. Some people get into gardening. You can do vegetable and fruit or flowering gardening.
You can do a mixture of all three. Taking up knitting or crocheting is a great hobby that can help you deal with stress. You can learn a new skill, such as a second language. Or you can learn how to play an instrument.
You can get involved in community theater or take acting classes. Going for regular hikes to explore new places is a great way to deal with stress. So is volunteering. Investing yourself in someone else successfully manages stress.
Create a To-Do List
You might wonder why creating a to-do list can help you manage stress. The answer is that when stress hits, you feel like everything is going wrong. You feel like nothing is within your ability to cope.
This feeling of being out of control can increase your stress level. Sometimes stress develops because people feel like they have so much to do or to overcome that it causes action paralysis, which then worsens stress.
Creating a to-do list helps a person prioritize the important things, and they’re able to focus on getting one thing at a time accomplished. Rather than focusing on what they have to do in its entirety, which can make stress rise, they’re able to get through the day by choosing bite size action steps.
When you have a step-by-step to-do list, you feel like you’re in control. This works well even if you don’t necessarily have a lot on your plate to handle. A physical list takes the pressure off your mental checklist.
Find Your Support System
One of the worst things about stress is when you try to keep it all inside. When your job isn’t working out well, your partner isn’t being helpful, and your kids are constantly pushing your buttons, you need a way to come to terms with the stress that you’re feeling.
If you don’t let it out, the stress pressure builds. You need to have someone to talk to about what you’re going through. This someone may not be able to do anything to change your situation.
But by simply being there to listen, it relieves you of the buildup you’re feeling. Talking through what’s happening with you and what’s causing your stress makes you feel better, even if the situation is still present.
Your support can be a trusted friend, a relative, a romantic partner or a trained counselor. Sharing how you’re feeling relieves the emotional toll, such as anxiety and depression, that are often linked to stress.
Create a Strategy
Every single bit of stress in your life can be traced back to a trigger. It’s always cause and effect. Something happens, and there’s a mental, emotional, or physical reaction. There are consequences or changes that lead to the stress.
For example, your boss gives you a better position. You make more money. Now you’re stressed. Not because you got the position that you wanted, but because there are more responsibilities.
It might be more time away from home. You might feel worried that you’re not up to par.
When stress hits, you have to trace backward to find the root of your stress. Once you find that, you can create a strategy to eliminate the stress.
If you take the new position at work, have a plan to enlist more help at home or hire outside help. If you’re worried you’re not knowledgeable enough about the new position, ask for help such as more training or take a course. Your strategy should make you proactive and show you what you need to do to help you deal with your stress.
Let Go
You must reach the place where you realize that despite how hard you try, there are some things you just can’t solve. By wasting time worrying and trying to find a fix for the unfixable, you’re just creating stress.
You can’t fix a coworker who’s lazy or is a jerk. You can’t force a loved one not to break up with you. You can’t order every event in your life to be as you wish it to be. You don’t have any control over things that are outside your ability to change.
What you have to do is accept what you can’t change and make peace with it. When you waste energy striving to try to force things to happen that are beyond your scope, you end up frustrated and stressed.
Accepting that you’re powerless to change everything that affects you is a hard thing to do but it’s necessary in order to deal with stress. It doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means you’re strong enough to move on with your life rather than remaining stuck.
