What is stress?
The majority of people don’t even know that they are stressed. So how would they know if stress is having an effect on their life?
First of all, in my opinion, it’s imperative to understand what is stress so that you can understand its effect on your life. Stress is just a word that describes a feeling of emotional or physical tension in the body.
Stress is your body’s reaction to a challenge or demand. It is often triggered when we experience something new or unexpected. When we feel we have little control over a situation or when it threatens our sense of self.
Stress often builds up over time when you are exposed to a situation over and over again that you feel you have no control over. This is when frustration and anger or nervousness consumes you. Often you have no way of processing and dealing with it so you suppress it. The longer you suppress these negative emotions the more intensely it consumes you over time.
It’s important to know that some stress can be good. It can be a challenge that keeps us alert, motivated and ready to avoid to danger. But too much of stress can have adverse effects on your mental and physical health.
When is it considered unhealthy stress?
Stress and its effect on your life is bad when it starts affecting you physically causing tension headaches, upset stomach, high blood pressure, chest pain and problems with sex and sleep.
Emotionally it leaves you in a state of anxiety, frustration and causes outbursts of anger. Or it causes you to feel depressed and brings about panic attacks.
However what makes stress more dangerous is how you choose to respond to it. For most people they turn to alcohol or drugs, “to take the edge off”. Or they choose to gamble or spend too much on risky activities that may initially create a feeling of euphoria but then leave them worse off than they were before. Others may turn to food and overeat. All these choices will lead to more problems.
You need to start making changes in your life when the stress starts to affect those around you. When your choices of how to deal with it, has an adverse effect on other areas of your life. And your outbursts become misguided. This will create toxicity and put undue strain on your relationships.
What can you do to avoid stress and its effect on your life?
Firstly awareness is key. Acknowledge that you are feeling stressed and the impact that it is having on your life. Identify the root cause of what is making you feel stressed and start to implement small changes. In life you attract more of what you focus on. So if you are consistently focusing all your time and energy on what is making you feel stressed, you will feel more stressed.
- Take a step back and take stock of your life and your current situation
- Choose to make a change
- Refocus your priorities
- Start incorporating more healthier ways of stress relief, like running, cycling, boxing or yoga
- Make sure you are getting a balanced diet and plenty of rest
- Ask for help
How can I help you eliminate the stress and anxiety in your life?
As your life coach I work to ascertain the underlying causes for your stress. I will help you get to the root cause and the triggers that causes the buildup of your frustration, anger and nervousness. There is always an underlying reason. I will thereafter coach you to establish more healthier ways of dealing with the challenges you face.
In this process you will benefit by:
- Knowing yourself better and understanding how your thoughts affect your emotional state, actions and behaviour
- Understanding your emotions such as worry, fear, doubt, sadness, etc and how it creates the stress in your life
- Being in control of your emotions
- Removing self-sabotaging thought patterns
- Installing new empowering habits and behaviours
- Knowing what you want to accomplish
- Finding a work, life balance
- Ability to set and reach goals
- Unlocking more of your potential by building confidence to go after what you desire
Contact me now should you choose to live stress free.