Relieving stress

Relieving stress - finding ways to reduce and manage it.

Stress is not uncommon. Every single day we experience it and have to deal with it.

Not all stress is bad but excessive stress can be damaging to our health.

The key is to recognise stress for what it is and then put into place techniques and life-long habits that put you in control of your stress.

If I had a penny for every time something or someone stressed me, I would be rich by now. Sadly, the reverse is true for many people. A huge amount of money is spent with the hope of relieving stress.

Some choose a day-spa, soothing massage or a makeover to lessen or minimize the effects of stress. Some eat their way out of stress only to feel guilty about how many pounds they'll put on, and it does nothing to deal with the cause of the stress.

These solutions may be okay for the mind and body short-term, but on their own they do not help us to establish life-long techniques for relieving stress.

Regardless of the methods, effective stress management is the secret to a long and happy, low-stress life. A common mistake is to let stress manage our life instead of the other way around.

In yoga classes, the instructor will often talk about "finding your center", or balance. I believe this is one effective way to relieve and then manage stress. Although it could be quite a challenge to find your center, once you do, the payout is substantial.

Essentially, finding your center is about getting your life in balance. Imagine a wheel rotating around a point that is not the center. It wobbles and shakes. It puts strain on the axle. It is not balanced. By centering the axle and letting the wheel spin around its center everything starts to smooth out.

Imagine that your life is like the wheel. You are not at the center but somewhere near the edge. As life spins up things can become a blur. The faster your life is going, the higher the risk you will go spinning out of control. The further you are from the center, the faster things seem to go past. It is time to slow down.

Being on the edge is a stressful way to go through life and relates to the saying "living on the edge". Living on the edge might be okay for a season such as right after a baby is born or you change jobs or are recoving from a divorce. After a little while though it is time to pull back and find that balance.

Life balance is the result of centering our thoughts and focusing our energies on those things that are truly important to us. Family, friends, our home, work, life goals and so on. Visit the page on life balance and see which of the techniques help you to slow down. The most valuable result of slowing down, of course, is that it is a most effective way of relieving stress.

Expert advice differs when it comes to relieving stress. Perhaps the one thing that is in common across all the advice is to find the one that really suits you.

There is no single answer to relieving stress although there are common themes to many of the techniques. It is not advisable to simply take a technique that worked for your friend and attempt to force it onto your lifestyle. You may end up getting more stressed as a result.

Below you will find tips from real people who had real stress in their lives. These stories are included here so that you can not only be encouraged but also try one or more of these techniques to find your own life balance.

Tips for relieving stress in your life.

Relieving Stress Tip #1 - Breathe, smile and visualise

If you are feeling the symptoms of stress, here is one effective way that works for me. I am not sure if it will work for you, but if it means getting rid of stress then it might be worth a try.

The key elements for the quick relief of stress are:

breathe
smile
visualize
evaluate, and lastly
fight.

Simply inhaling slowly and then gently exhaling could be enough to relax you when you feel the first signs of stress stiring. Take a nice deep breath every time you feel stressed. Repeat a few times if necessary. Make a habit of it and you will feel relaxed after a short while.

It could be the way the neighbor talks to his wife set you "on edge". Maybe something as simple as one of your family leaving their dirty clothes on the floor rather than taking a few more steps and dropping them in the basket. Whatever the cause, try simple breathing to see if it works for you.

After taking in a deep breath, now comes the smile. Smiling for no reason has a unique way of pulling us up out of the doldrums. Sometimes when I smile at nothing it starts me laughing at that same nothing. This really does have a positive impact on my mood.

Then you I visualize a favorite thing or memory that brings back pleasant thoughts. If your recent vacation is a happy memory, reminisce about the good times you had instead of focusing on the negative feelings that stress brings you.

It is important to acknowledge where the stress is coming from to be able to successfully fight it or resist it in future. Don't make excuses for your neighbors treatment of his wife, invite her over and talk about it. Doing so might solve two problems, yours and hers.

Relieving Stress Tip #2 - Write it down

Believe it or not, a significant amount of stress can build up in our lives just by unnecessarily worrying about a few pending, but significant decisions in our minds. The following list is an example of one such group of thoughts that a young lady I will call Stephanie, was holding on to.

When will I give notice at work?
What will the new job be like?
How will I fit my new training routine into my schedule?
When will I have time for my boyfriend?
What about finishing the diploma course I started?

It started out by Stephanie thinking about one thing. In this case it was giving notice at work. Circumstances meant that she had to wait a couple of week before giving notice. She was concerned about what her mum would think and how her boss would react.

Add to that the other points that were all part of her plan for the next 12 months and there is the recipe for stress. Stephanie didn't know it but she had started to let her life revolve around these pending decisions rather than staying balanced and maintaining control over these matters.

She was letting her concern over these five issues dictate to her how she felt and it was affecting her sleep and even causing physical pain in her back and neck.

The solution that worked for her was to start a journal, jotting down each of these major issues, together with her concerns and the circumstances surrounding each one. Once written down it started to become much clearer to Stephanie just what needed to be done with each of the decisions.

The training decision needed some input from her coach and she sent an email on its way to find out some key information. A very positive reply from the coach helped her put the decision she need to make into the proper perspective.

Giving notice at work was a breeze. Her boss was so supportive that she was leaving to pursue a dream. The boss said that many young people leave the firm because they get tired of full-time work a year or so after starting but have no where to go.

Stephanie let her mum know in a text message. She had spoken about it with her before and her mum's initial negative reaction was the source of much unnecessary grief. As it turns out, her mum just wants her to be happy.

She put together the first draft of a personal development plan to help her sort out time commitments during a typical week and the outlook began to look even brighter. She had more time than she thought she would when it all had been turning over in her head.

Effectively, what Stephanie did was take her focus off these five peripheral decisions and issues and push them back out to the outside of the wheel.

She centered her life again around the 12 month goal she was working on and left the decisions on the periphery of her life rather than giving them central focus. As she did that, by writing them down together with key points and concerns about each one, she was able to see each one in a clearer light.

She was then able to deal with each decision on its own way, on her terms, rather than having to juggle all five at once and feeling like the weight of the world was on her shoulders.

Relieving Stress Tip #3 - Treasure your family and friends

Another great way to relieve stress is to get together with people you love or people who make you laugh. Spending quality time with your friends will do wonders.

Making regular dates with your friends and you will look forward to those times where you can share your concerns. A problem shared is usually a problem halved. Don't just dump everything on them because we all have stress, but sharing in a caring way tends to help everyone lower their stress levels.

As a mom, the best technique is have for relieving stress is by playing with my son. Kids can be so funny without them even knowing or meaning it. Spending time with my son makes him feel appreciated and every time he hugs and kisses me, I can immediately feel the stress just draining out as the love pours in.

Submit your favorite tip for relieving stress.

Do you have an effective tip for relieving stress? If so, share it online so that others can benefit from your wisdom and experience. Your tip will appear on it's own page with your name, if you choose, and others will be able to rate it and comment on it.

Life Balance - a series of stories about how real people dealt with real stress.

What is Stress - some background into the causes and symptoms of stress.

Relationships - sometimes we can be under stress due to strained relationships. You may find some stories and tools on these pages to help heal those strained relationships.

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