Stress Management

Are you stressed much? Do you know that many illnesses minor and major have what we call stress as an underlying factor? And, in spite of our attempts to better manage stress, more and more adults and children report themselves as overwhelmed and stressed-out. It’s clear that the old model of stress management doesn’t work. More troubling are recent studies reporting increasing levels of stress across all populations moving ever more rapidly down into school-age children. And stress-related illnesses and workplace absenteeism continues to rise. What are we doing wrong?

It’s simple really – we are operating under an old paradigm that only serves to exacerbate the very condition it was thought to heal. Instead of dealing with a variety of emotions that arise through the day, we dump it all into something called STRESS. Yet stress cannot be seen – it cannot be felt, picked up, put down or described with any real degree of accuracy. We can see the effects (or so we think) – think of stress like Bigfoot – we can see the tracks and therefore can decide Bigfoot exists or we can realize that the tracks we see might be indicative of any number of causes. Is it easier to believe in Bigfoot? Is it easier to believe in something invisible and give it so much power of your wellbeing? I think not.

As a Certified Stress Management Consultant (CSMC), I’ve done a lot of work with workplace stress as well as anxiety and depression due to any number of life situations and events. And what I know is that a breakthrough in how we think about this issue is long overdue.

Picture a country we’ll call Stress Nation – a place where everyone you know, yourself included, feels it, talks about it, reads about it, passes it back and forth like a hot potato and, in the long run, fails to find a lasting solution or even a lasting escape! Is stress inevitable? Are we powerless in the light of failing economies, global warming, job layoffs, academic pressures, looming terror threats and the day to day slow hum of a life worn down at the edges? The good news is that the answer is a resounding No! The bad news is that the outside is most likely not going to change anytime soon so the work, as it always seems to be, is on the inside. And that takes effort, focus, accountability and that thing we seem to have no patience for these days, precious TIME.

Stress is, and continues to be, the number one health issue for most Americans. Some studies estimate that virtually all workplace absenteeism and most illnesses have their roots in the body’s inability to process chronic stress. We really don’t need studies to tell us this. We already know from our own experience the difference in feeling we have when we are calm versus when we are stressed. What we may not know is that, over time, it is unrelieved chronic stress that causes the biggest health problems.

Events and situations that stress us out can come in any and all forms. There are happy yet stressful events (think wedding day!) and sad and stressful occasions; we all know the experience of loss whether of a loved one, a job, maybe even a precious dream. What’s interesting about our experience of stress is that it is so varied and so customized to each one of us. What stresses me out may cause you to stifle a yawn. And what stresses you out may leave me shaking my head in disbelief and amazement. Yet all those reactions are rooted in the same thought – we feel stressed when we have the perception that the situation or event will overwhelm our personal resources. We think we can’t cope and we begin to be unable to cope. And it’s more than just that. We think we can’t cope and we see no way to change the situation.

Irresistible force, meet immovable object.

It’s time to take back control – to realize that stress has become a catch-all for how we think and feel about something at any given point in time. You can’t resolve what you can’t name! Stay with me and you’ll learn more new, revolutionary approaches to eliminating stress. One more step in the process of moving you from frenzy to freedom!