Stress…. of course we all know what stress is. We’ve experienced it numerous times. Which is why stress management is important to all of us.
There is good stress and bad stress.
Stress helps us to cope with our current situation. Stress warns us. Stress keeps us away or motivates us and pushes us forward or pulls us through. Stress isn’t really the problem we have though.
I want you to consider the following:
If you are going through a situation (say lockdown, a crisis, a pandemic) and you have resources to deal with that situation, you wouldn’t be stressed.
However it is the lack of resources that creates the stress that makes things worse for us.
If you know what resources are lacking, you can empower yourself with those, in whatever way possible, you would learn and grow and leave your stress behind.
However it is the lack of resources that causes us to go from good to bad, so possibly worse. Depending on how we cope if we are able to find those resources and equip ourselves with them to improve our situation.
This is exactly the kind of thing I teach in my online Pandemic Stress Management Session.
We all have a certain amount of resources that we normally go to when feeling stressed, but sometimes we find ourselves in a new situation, one we’ve never experienced before. For example, none of us have ever experienced a pandemic such as this. It’s new to all of us. There are plenty of unknowns, plenty of unanswered questions. Needless to say, our usual go-to strategies, our normal resources, now fails us. A new situation calls for new resources and we don’t know where to find this or what to do.
Now if you think about today 1 year ago, maybe you had your usual work stress, maybe your usual argument with a partner, maybe you were sick in bed or stressed out at the airport as you nearly missed your flight. These are all usual circumstances. Things you might likely have experienced before.
You know how you would cope in these situations. You know what resources you can use to help ease your mind.
Maybe you talk it through with a friend. Maybe you push yourself harder to meet the deadline.amd you can relax thereafter. Maybe you have a glass of wine to ease your nerves. Maybe you go for a qorkout or get extra sleep.
But in unordinary circumstances, such as this pandemic, you don’t actually know what to do.
Talking to a friend may make you more anxious and rhey tell you some shocking news. You’re not getting the sleep you need or eating healthily and regularly because your days and nights are rolled in to one. You have no schedule or structure.
Perhaps you do, but what about furlough or even just working from home. Its all new to you and comes with its own frustrations, anxiwties and lack of resources.
So the 🔑 is this for Stress Management:
- Identify your stressors – where is it coming from? What is causing it?
- What would you usually do in stressful circumstances? How is that working for you now?
- What’s the worst thing that could possibly happen now?
- What’s the best possible scenario?
- What is most likely to happen? Find the middle grown for your trail of thoughts as that is where you will find comfort.
- What are you lacking? Educate yourself to grow, to learn, to leave your stress behind.
- Recognise that it doesn’t have to be extreme resources or something big, or out of reach. It can just be everyday small little healthy habits that need to be put in place. I will share these with you in my next blog.
Go and find your resources. The things you are lacking. But I want you to know… you already have that within you. It’s just knowing or learning what, how and when to put things in place.
Keep well, stay strong, be safe and look after your mental health!
