How To Deal With Emotional Stress

Overview

Stress is a feeling of emotional strain and pressure. While feeling stressed is unavoidable, how we deal with it to relieve the pressure and gain back control of our lives is very important. 

It is very little we can do to avoid being stressed because factors that potentially trigger it are present all around us. 

Living with high levels of stress puts our entire wellbeing at risk, wreaking havoc on our emotional equilibrium, we end up being physically unproductive and mentally ineffective.

Causes

Pioneer endocrinologist Selye described the cause of stress as:

"The nonspecific (that is, common) result of any demand upon the body, be the effect mental or somatic"

                                                - Hans Selye

Stress is a non-specific response. There is no single cause of stress but what varies is the degree of response to situations and individual levels of tolerance. Stressors are neutral, a stressor (e.g physical exhaustion) can either cause a feeling of distress or pleasure depending on the individual. An athlete or a bodybuilder will find the euphoria of physical exhaustion pleasurable after a tedious work out session but an office worker might find the feeling frustrating. It is individual differences and responses that induce either distress or eustress which could lead to stress.

How to deal with stress

1. Identify the sources of stress in your life

The first step to manage stress is identifying the sources of stress in your life. It may be your current circle of friends, relatives, your job or your environment. Although we should be careful not to look outside alone, your thoughts, behaviour and feelings contribute largely to your stress level. Make sure you carry out a full self-examination.

2. Get up:

The last thing anyone wants to do when feeling stressed is getting up but the irony of it is that physical activity is an effective stress reliever. Put on some music and dance around, exercising for about 15 minutes. Do anything you can to get yourself up.

3. Try the 4-A: Avoid, Alter, Adapt and Accept

•Avoid situations or people that stress you. Learn to say "no" to people or things you know are not beneficial for you in the long run. Although it won't be easy at first, with continuous practise you'll become better at it. Making a to-do-list to arrange your schedules and responsibilities will come in handy.

•Alter activities you can't avoid. Make it work to your benefit. Express your feelings rather than bottling up emotions. Be expressive about the things you don't like that are done by people or things around you. Also, while you demand change from people, be willing to compromise, practice the change you're demanding from others.

•Adapt find a way to make peace with things you have no control over. For example, your house rent or daily traffic on the road. Reshape your perception of things and learn to see the bigger picture. Practice gratitude.

•Accept people and things for who and how they are. Patience and forgiveness need to be learnt in this area.

4. Connect with people

Find solace in people who are like-minded as you. Communicate and spend quality time with them. It's the single most calming feeling of all. Research shows that face-to-face interaction with people triggers a cascade of hormones that counteracts the body’s defensive “fight-or-flight” response. It’s nature’s natural stress reliever. It also helps stave off depression and anxiety. So make it a point to connect regularly—and in-person—with family and friends.

Note that people generally don't have the power to relieve stress but they have to be good listeners and communicators.

5. Make time for fun and relaxation

Making time when you get to do just things that relax you will help you do away with pressure and regain control of your life when you feel stressed.

Conclusion

"In times of great stress and adversity, it's always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive"

                                       -Lee Iacocca

Emotional stress can breed negativity and imprint pessimism in the subconscious mind if not dealt with quickly. Practice the tips listed above and enjoy a lifetime of control over your life and happiness.

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