Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Managing Personal Stress

A Quick Overview On Dealing With Personal Stress


In today’s day and age of hectic lifestyles and always being on-the-go, stress seems to be a constant companion for most people.  Stress is the culmination of reactions you have when you are dealing with more than you are used to dealing with.
 
 Take Control of YOUR Life!
Your life is going to change for the better!
The reactions stem from the hormones that your body produces when it feels that pressure.  

These reactions can include a quickening of your heart rate, faster breathing, and a sudden burst of energy.  This culmination of reactions is often referred to as the “fight-or-flight stress response.”  In short, brief periods, this response is actually quite helpful to deal with important situations, such as a big project at work or a family crisis. (Or a Self Defense situation!!!)

However, experiencing this stress reaction too often can lead to bad effects on your health and your life.  This is what many people experience nowadays in our hectic, fast-paced world, and thus have to come up with measures to deal with that stress.  We will examine some of these measures below.



When you are feeling the stress reaction too often, you can experience such physical discomforts as headaches, an upset stomach, nausea, back pain, and insomnia.  Additionally, your immune system can be compromised and weakened, leaving you more prone to becoming ill from various microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses. 

If you are dealing with health complications (such as heart disease or diabetes, for example), repeated stress can make these complications even more severe.  

Oftentimes, you will find yourself more tense, irritable, and depressed.  As a result, your relationships with family, friends, and co-workers can suffer, and your performance at work and/or school can also suffer.

Stress can be a major problem for people who often have to deal with it.  In order to manage this stress and not allow it to ruin their relationships and work/school performance, they have to learn to manage that stress.  They need to figure out exactly what is causing this repeated stress, determine ways to manage that stress, and enact healthy ways to reduce or eliminate that stress.

Especially in our world today, the lack of time for completing the activities we need to get done for work and/or for our families can often lead to stress.  


Therefore, one good way to reduce or eliminate stress is to manage our time better. 
 Take Control of YOUR Life!

A good way to improve our time management skills is to make a schedule and stick with it to the best of our abilities.  By doing this, we’ll still be able to accomplish what we need to accomplish, yet have the opportunity to relax with loved ones and/or by ourselves and do an activity that is enjoyable, which can also help to reduce and eliminate stress.

Stress is a part of our lives, especially in this hectic day and age.  

While stress in limited quantities can be helpful to improving our performance over the short-term. Long durations of stress can be detrimental to our work/school performance, our relationships, and our health.  By determining what is causing our stress and taking steps to reduce or eliminate the causes of that stress, we can do a better job of handling the stress that comes our way and, accomplish the tasks we need to accomplish, and still be able to enjoy fun activities (i.e. “downtime”) to help maintain a relatively stress-free, normal life.

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Emotional Resilience: Do I Have To Be A Super Hero?

What Is Emotional Resilience?

Emotional resilience refers to one’s ability to adapt to stressful situations or crises. More resilient people are able to "roll with the punches" and adapt to adversity without lasting difficulties; less resilient people have a harder time with stress and life changes, both major and minor. It’s been found that those who deal with minor stresses more easily can.....




Here is a cool resource from Amazon if you are looking for a way to help your loved ones develop these important life skills!


Talking Treasure: Stories to Help Build Emotional Intelligence and Resilience in Young Children

Monday, June 16, 2014

Did I Mention.....

People who learn to maintain an optimistic attitude may not only avoid depression, they may actually improve their physical health

Do you know someone who seems to always have a smile and a positive thought? Or are you yourself one of those people who is full of optimism? Hardships are seen as ‘learning experiences’ by optimists, and even the most miserable day always holds the promise for them that ‘tomorrow will probably be better.’
If you always see the brighter side of things, you may feel that you experience more positive events in your life than others, find yourself less stressed, and even enjoy greater health benefits.
The Benefits of Optimism
Superior Health
In a study of 99 Harvard University students, those who were optimists at age 25 were significantly....

Wednesday, June 4, 2014


Resiliency


Emotional resilience is partially inborn, but it can (and should) be learned and developed. If you’d like to be able to handle life’s challenges (both major and minor) with greater ease, to grow from adversity, and to turn potentially negative events into positive ones, the following steps can help you to become more resilient to stress.

Here's How:

1. Develop The Right Attitude
Resilient people tend to view life’s difficulties as challenges and respond accordingly with action, rather than with fear, self-pity, blame or a "victim mentality." While life can be very challenging, an important step in becoming more resilient is to develop positive self-talk and to remind yourself that you are strong and can grow stronger and more wise as you handle life’s challenges.

2. Become Aware
Part of resilience is emotional awareness; it’s important to understand what you’re feeling and why. Sometimes people feel overwhelmed with their emotions, and this frightens and immobilizes them. Knowing why you feel upset can provide valuable information about what needs to change in your life. It’s also important to do research on how to meet the challenges you face. Maintaining a journal can help you explore your inner world and come up with a plan of action.

3. Develop An Internal Locus of Control
Resilient people believe that they’re in control of their lives, and it’s true: while we can’t control our circumstances, we can control how we respond to those circumstances, and that makes a big difference in our attitudes and in the course our lives take. Fortunately, you can develop an internal locus of control.

4. Cultivate Optimism
Being an optimist is more than looking on the bright side (though that helps). It’s a way of viewing the world where you maximize your strengths and accomplishments, and minimize your weaknesses and setbacks. Developing a more optimistic world view can help you become more resilient.

5. Rally Social Support
While we ultimately face our own challenges, a supportive friend or group of friends can help lighten the load. Those with strong networks of social support tend to stay healthier and happier throughout life, and tend to cope well with stress. Conversely, those with little support may find themselves more vulnerable, and those with conflicted and unsupportive relationships tend to fare even worse.

6. Maintain Your Sense of Humor
If you’re able to laugh at life’s frustrations, you can have increased immunity, if you will, to stress and adversity. Those with a sense of humor about life tend to experience life as less stressful, are able to bond with others during difficult times, and experience the numerous benefits of laughter. If you can take a step back from difficult situations long enough to maintain your sense of humor, you will be more resilient, too.

7. Exercise
Yes, you read right. Exercise has been correlated with stronger levels of resilience. This may be due to the effects of endorphins on one's mood, or the physical health benefits to those who exercise, or both. Regardless, adding a regular exercise habit to your lifestyle can benefit you in more ways than one.

8. Get In Touch With Your Spiritual Side
Studies have shown that those who are more spiritual tend to be more resilient as well. This doesn't mean that you can't be resilient if you are atheist or agnostic. But if you are open to it, reconnecting or strengthening your connection to your spiritual side can provide you with strength.

9. Don’t Give Up
While many people know of coping strategies that can help with stress, as with diets and exercise programs, the most successful individuals are those who maintain the effort for the long term. Don’t give up on your situation; don’t stop working toward getting through it. Trust the process.


Action Tips:
1. Be patient with yourself, and just do your best.

2. Invest in yourself! Learn how to develop the mindset that will keep you functioning at your peak level of performance, both mentally and physically!

Champion's Mindset