Is It Possible-Can You Eliminate Stress In Your Life?
Stress can be described as what happens to our body in our constantly changing environment. Stress is the physical and emotional effects on us as we struggle to keep up with the necessary tasks of the day. Stress can be a negative influence and it can also have a positive effect. Negative effects can lead to depression, distrust, and rejection. These emotions can lead to unhealthy patterns of sleeping, eating, and severe health problems. Headaches, insomnia, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and stroke are possible health hazards from excessive stress in your life. Life can throw unhappy circumstances at us that can cause stress hormone levels to rise. You may experience the loss of a loved one, a job change, or beginning or ending a new relationship. Whatever the source, stress can cause problems in how we adjust to any new circumstances.
Stress can be positive as well and some of us will thrive on some stress. Having deadlines spur us to complete assignments, competitions encourage us to more productivity, and confrontations add stress and a little excitement to our life. You probably will not be able to erase stress from your life. Some of stress will keep your life interesting and help you reach goals.
There is not a good way to know when stress is good for you or when it becomes unhealthy. The secret is to learn how to use stress to add depth to our lives. Depression can be caused by an inadequate amount of stress but too much stress can leave us feeling overwrought and “tied up in knots.” We need to define the stress that motivates us and be able to recognize when it threatens to overwhelm us. This point will be different for each person. Some pressures that can exhaust one person may be a joy and welcome by another person. If the same stressor affects two different people, there will be a difference in the way they react both physiologically and psychologically.
A person who thrives with going into situations to “straighten things out” would be stressed if they are forced to sit quietly in a cubicle in front of a computer eight hours a day. Another person may find that going into confrontational situations would scare them silly and they feel much safer and happier sitting in that same cubicle with the same computer each day.
The secret is in how you manage the stress in your life. Many sources of stress cannot be ignored, nor will they go away. You have to learn how to deal and manage the stressors in your life. You need to identify which of the stressors are causing the most stress and learn to deal with each one of them. How does your body react to each stressor? By recognized your body’s response it will help in finding a way to deal with that particular stress.
Know what you can change and what you can’t. You probably will not be able to erase some of the stressors in your life. You may be able to reduce the intensity and your reaction to them by learning stress management techniques and putting them into practice each day.
