7 Steps to Managing Stress: Step 1
Over the next 7 days we’ll be looking at ways of identifying, acknowledging and managing stress in your life. We are going to begin by working through a four-step process to allow you to assess your current stress levels.
Some level of stress can be a good thing, driving us towards our goals and fueling our motivation and drive. However, when we experience too much stress we can become overwhelmed and increasingly unproductive.
Too much stress can lead to anxiety and depression, as well as a range of our physical and psychological symptoms.
Step One: Learn to Recognise Your Own Signs
Everyone responds in their own way to increasing stress. Some people become progressively more frantic and impetuous, others drag their feet and avoid making decisions. In both cases, stress makes them less efficient and potentially more prone to accident, errors and bad decision-making. The important thing is to know how you react. The better you know your own signs, the better you will be able to cope with the challenge.
Most of my clients are very good at recognising ‘big’ stressors, such as redundancy and divorce – after all, these things are supposed to be stressful! – and the majority of clients feel able to seek support in coping with these events, whether that is from a loved one, friend, or counsellor. However, what they often don’t recognised is the combined effect of small, everyday stressors. Daily irritations such as a stressful commute, dealing with an awkward teenager, or working in an unpleasant or hostile environment can seem relatively ‘small’ and manageable. We tend to think that if everyone else is coping, so should we – the reality is, of course, that they are probably not coping any better than we are, and these ‘small’ daily stressors can add up to give a huge burden of stress that is even more difficult to recognise and manage than the ‘big’ one-off stressors.
Issy Darnell
Learn about yourself by focusing on situations and times when you know you were stressed in the past. You can then learn to recognise your signs early and in future will be able to take action before the stresses get out of hand. The following questions will help you to recognise your reactions.
Consider each question carefully and jot down your answers:
- What does it feel like when you are stressed?
- How does it show?
- What thoughts run through your mind?
- What do you do?
- How does it affect others?
- How do their reactions affect you?
In order to help you detect stress in your life, use the following list. Go through it carefully, ticking any symptom you recognise. The list is divided into four sections. Most people who suffer from stress find that it affects them in all four ways, so if you mark nothing in one of the sections, you should probably think again – either you are missing key symptoms, or the problems you have noticed may not due to stress.
Changes That May Be Signs of Stress
Feelings
Irritability; you become short-tempered, or easily flare up.
Anxiety or feelings of panic.
Fear – e.g. of being out of control.
Feeling worried – e.g. about your health, or anything else.
Feeling miserable or tearful.
Apathy or agitation.
Lowered self-esteem.
Thoughts
Forgetting things; making mistakes.
Finding it hard to concentrate.
Becoming indecisive.
Getting muddled or confused.
Procrastinating.
Being unable to think far ahead.
Worrying or ruminating rather than solving problems.
Becoming rigid and inflexible, in an effort to keep control.
Predicting the worst.
Behaviours
Getting worse at managing your time.
Getting worse at organising yourself, and others.
Rushing hither and thither.
Finding it hard to delegate.
Working longer and longer hours.
Bring work home; working on weekends.
Avoiding tackling problems, or doing things you dislike.
Cutting down on the things you do for pleasure.
Losing touch with your friends.
Blaming others for the problem.
Finding there’s no time to enjoy yourself.
Needing a drink; turning to drugs.
Needing tranquillisers or sleeping tablets.
Sensations
Aches and pains, especially headaches or stomach-aches.
Tension – e.g. in your neck or shoulders.
Frequent minor ailments.
Disrupted sleep patterns.
Appetite for food increased or decreased.
Appetite for sex increased or decreased.
Flare-up of ulcer-related symptoms.
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