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Our Own Stress Level
Recognizing and accepting
our most comfortable life-style, which includes the
dimension of knowing how much pressure we can tolerate,
is an effective way to avoid becoming overwhelmed by
stress.
Our Own Goals
Realistic goal setting
is sometimes difficult when parents, friends and other
well-wishers offer ample advice about what would be
best for us. It is important for us to decide on our
own goals since pursuing an academic or personal goal
defined by someone else creates problems.
Scheduling and Preparation
Stress frequently comes
about when we do not get done what we hoped to do in
a given period of time. If this is the case, scheduling
can help. We commonly tend to schedule too much for
the time and energy we possess. We should be realistic
and avoid over-scheduling ourselves. Another thing to
remember is to schedule the most difficult tasks before
the easier ones. We ought to schedule some time in the
day for ourselves and for our loved ones. If this personal
and family time is set up as a reinforcement for completed
tasks, we will likely be motivated to work more efficiently
on difficult tasks of the day.
New Ways of Doing Things
A common stress reduction
motto is "If you don't like it, change it."
One way to change things is to identify those people
and events, which are stressful to us and how we have
traditionally responded to them in the past. Once we
identify the cause of our stress, we can plan some new
ways to respond to them in the future. Practicing our
new responses before we actually need them is a good
way to better prepare for those situations.
Some additional ways of doing things differently include:
(1) using a different style in dress and grooming,
(2) saying "hello" to classmates we would
usually ignore,
(3) begin living a spiritual principle we have been
putting off for some time,
(4) speaking, eating, driving and moving at a slower
pace, and
(5) trying out for an athletic team or theatrical production.
Getting Closer to the Lord
Stress can come from treating
lightly our relationship with the Lord. When we are
making serious attempts to grow spiritually, we feel
good and have a peace of conscience. When we are not,
we generally feel agitated, defensive, critical and
alienated from others. Such feelings are stressful.
Peace and calmness can be restored to our soul through
repenting of our wrong doings (attitudes and thoughts
as well as behaviors) and by living in a more spiritual
way.
Daily Relaxation
It is beneficial to create
an "island of time" when we can daily engage
in some uninterrupted reading, pondering, thinking and
praying. This should be a time when the Spirit of the
Lord can easily and quietly communicate with us as we
think about our relationship with God. It is a time
to think positively about ourselves. It is a time to
relax so as to allow our body and spirit a chance to
prepare for the tasks ahead of us the rest of the day.
Sound Thinking
The thoughts we give ourselves
generally determine what feelings we will possess. Remember,
the thoughts we give ourselves about the event cause
the stress--not the event itself. As soon as we accept
this principle, we have taken a major step in controlling
the stress in our lives.
Resolving Anger
When our stressful feelings
include anger, it is best to resolve these feelings
as soon as possible. The holding in of anger and hostility
puts a great stress on the body, which may be converted
into psychosomatic symptoms like headaches, ulcers,
and gastrointestinal problems.
Increasing Our Love
Love, or the lack of it,
seems to be associated with most of our other emotions.
When we are experiencing feelings like happiness and calmness,
we are most likely giving love to others. When we are
experiencing feelings of anger, hurt, or fear, there is
probably a deficiency of love in those same relationships.
Exercise and Recreation
People who maintain a regular
program of exercise seem to be able to become more quickly
and deeply relaxed than people who avoid exercise. This
should prompt all of us to add exercise to our life as
a weapon to fight stress.
Nutritious Food
Much could be said about
eating good food on a regular basis but most of us already
know that we feel better physically and emotionally if
we avoid foods with a high sugar content and replace them
with foods from the four basic food groups: milk and dairy
products, meats, vegetable and fruits, and bread and cereals.
Doing Something Permanent
There always seems to be
a number of daily items which need our attention. In our
efforts to take care of these items, we frequently feel
exhausted at the end of the day but seriously wonder if
we have accomplished anything of significance.
One way to counteract this
stress reaction is to purposely schedule in our daily
routine an activity which has lasting value. A few examples
include
(1) writing a dairy or article where we include thoughts
and ideas which are meaningful to us,
(2) reading uplifting and informative material and noting
ideas which impress us,
(3) providing a service for someone which we would not
normally do,
(4) writing letters of thanks and support to relatives
and friends,
(5) spending personal time with a child in teaching a
skill he or she will need to know, and
(6) making something like a table or wall hanging which
can be used and enjoyed.
Structuring Relationships
Stress comes from unhappy
relationships with others. We sometimes find ourselves
locked into a relationship which we wish we could change.
Seldom do we realize that we may have caused such a situation
and could have prevented it by proper structuring of the
relationship as it began.
Our Expectations
Disappointment, frustration
and anger frequently come from things not working out
the way we expected them to. We have conscious and unconscious
expectations for our own behavior, for the behavior of
others and for particular events in our lives. When things
do not happen the way we expected, it is easy to become
upset and irritated.
What is Stress Stress
Management Techniques
for Teens Stress
& Time Management
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