A Beginners Guide to Stress Management

Stress management begins with understanding stress and how it works. This following passage is an excerpt from Stress is Personal the free e-book I published in 2016. The e-book was written as a guide for people who experienced stress and wanted relief. Written as a personal account, the e-book also contains simple strategies to relieve the effects if overwhelming stress.

Stress is Personal

Distress, overwhelming stress, is a killer, but you already know this. It causes breakdowns in the systems that keep us alive. It is not, however, a silent killer. Your body, mind and emotions send signals of distress, which are often simply ignored. That is exactly what I did for many years. I ignored the signs and symptoms of distress until I got tired of feeling bad.

I believed I had to live with constant weight gain, headaches, joint aches, and muscle stiffness; just take two Ibuprofen and keep it moving. I went to bed tired and woke up tired. It took a great deal of energy to think clearly. My stomach churned, burned, and spurned the mildest foods. I was irritable, crabby, and short-tempered. At times I displayed a nasty attitude. This was so out of character for me.

The slightest change in schedule would send me over the edge. My neck and shoulder muscles were tight and my back hurt. I had a perpetual knot in a muscle beneath my shoulder blade. Occasionally, I would try massage to ease the tension in that muscle, but it did not work. Every massage therapist I saw would focus on that knotted muscle only failing to loosen it. That knot caused so much pain over the years. I could turn in my seat or lift a bag and collapse from the pain.

Another Name for Stress

Stress is an abbreviated name for the stress response. The stress response is the uncomfortable feeling we experience when we are “under pressure.” We use phrases like “I’m stressed” to describe the feeling. The feeling, however, is caused by a physical response. We learned to call the response “fight or flight.” Dr. Hans Selye, an endocrinologist described stress as “the nonspecific response of the body to any demand made upon it.” Basically, the body responds the same way regardless of the cause, type, or duration of the stressor.

Perception also plays an important role. We respond to stressful situations based on our perception or feeling about the situation and how it may affect us.

The feeling the stress responses cause can be described in different ways.

Stress Feels Like

We can experience stress by feeling elated or excited. This is the feeling we have when that guy or girl finally asks us out on a date. It is the same feeling we experience when hired for the new job we wanted or by getting accepted into the college of our choice. The stress response might also be experienced by the feeling of butterflies in your stomach. Imagine the feeling of taking your first trip abroad. You are on the plane and so excited that you cannot sit still in the middle seat. You are also elated by the opportunity.

Stress can also cause us to feel fearful or afraid. Imagine taking the trash out after dark. Before you put the trash in the trash can, you hear a noise. You immediately turn. Your heart is pounding and beating at what seems to be 90 miles per hour. The muscles in your legs and arms stiffened and you felt sick to your stomach. The response was immediate. It was only after you saw the raccoon scurry away that you relaxed. Being called into your supervisor’s office unexpectedly creates a similar feeling and response.

Stress Motivates

Stress can be a motivator encouraging action according to researchers studying performance. They determined that a certain level of stress or motivation is needed for individuals to complete simple tasks like getting out of bed and going to work. They also determined that peak performance could be reached when one experienced an optimal level of stress. Optimal level of stress could be likened to challenges. Stretch goals, like challenges, are commonly used in the workplace to increase productivity.

The same researchers also concluded that work/life overload has a negative effect. This is a point where the ability to meet the challenges diminishes. Extreme stress contributes to burnout, sickness, and the inability to perform.

Download the free e-book Stress is Personal: Your Personal Guide to Stress Relief.

“I want to be happy, whole, satisfied and successful. What about you?”

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