Dealing With Stress in Life

Everyone has to deal with stress when having to carry out one's daily routine. Housewives can get stressed out by having to prepare morning breakfasts, sending the children to school, making sure the husband does not get late for work and deciding how to deal with daily chores around the home. Husbands can get stressed out by having to commute to and from work and dealing with the tensions on the job. Even children can get stressed from homework, keeping up with peers, or winning games on the playground. While most of this comes from daily routines and is often accepted as part of it, it is sudden stress that comes from unexpected events that can really derail a person for weeks and create all kinds of problems.

How do you deal with these sudden and unexpected stressful events that can make all plans go haywire? Start with sitting down and really thinking through what is that you are upset about. Is it a thing you can control or change, or something that you are responsible for? If it is not, then you need to accept it for a fact, file it away for future reference and just move on. If you think you have caused the thing that has caused you stress, see what you can do to remedy it. You may need to apologise to someone, take some remedial action, or do something that in a way addresses the problem. Stop blaming yourself, as this can only add to your stress. If you are at fault, think of what you can do to prevent any recurrence. If you are in conflict with somebody, see if you can calmly and cooly talk over the problem. Make an effort to reach out, but if there is no response, just move on and put it behind you.

Basically, you need to gain control over your thoughts and focus on the positive things that are going on in your life. Meditate and calm yourself down. Go for a walk. Play with your pet or the children. Put on some soothing music. Think of happy times. Never resort to binge eating to distract yourself as this can cause health problems.

In future, make it a point to avoid the things that are constantly causing you stress, until you have learnt how to deal with them. Find out what is important to you in life, and concentrate on things that bring you happiness and joy. Focus on them and leave the rest alone. Pamper yourself occasionally, by treating yourself to some ice cream, reading a good book, buying some new clothes or anything that keeps you in good spirits. Learn how to control the situations that are causing you stress. Some of them may be unavoidable because of duties or obligations but remember to remind yourself, that at some point of time during the day, you will be past them, and back to the familiar routines that give you pleasure. Above all, never let your stress overflow onto your loved ones and family. Just keep quiet, and you will find that often they are more understanding of your need for the time to deal with whatever it is that is bothering you.