Sigh! Everyday routine seems like drudgery. Juggling work, mundane chores, meeting expectations extracting more than you can give out of yourself leaves you mentally and physically exhausted. Stress is part of our lifestyle we can’t seem do away with. A lot has been written about what stress is and how it affects us however how do we cope with it is the question!
It all boils down to individual conditioning through experience and our inherent personality. Some personality types are predisposed to stress (makes for a separate article!). How our parents, our teachers, people in our periphery handled stress sets the tone for our coping with stressful situations.
Now let’s keep all this aside and talk about how we can control our own reaction to stress.
#1 culprit is Expectation, expecting others to behave and reciprocate as we expect is one of the most common cause of psychological stress. Change your mindset is the keyword. Give credit to the other person for being a thinking individual with his/her own complexities. Allow them to live and behave the way they want to and do not superimpose your expectations on them. Peace-out!
#2 culprit is Victim mode, We all love attention and what better way to receive it! Thinking and acting like a victim gets us due attention and sympathy Viola! How we relish that making it a habit and psychologically stressing our own self. Do not treat yourself as a poor soul you are all powerful in control of your own thoughts and behavior be the driver of your emotions.
#3 culprit is over commitment, some of us our hero personalities we want to be everywhere do everything and that too with perfection well! Well! Well! You are setting yourself up for a vicious cycle of stress and over work. The key is delegation. Be practical!
#4 culprit is time, there are only 24 hours in a day no one gets more no one gets less so how do some people manage? Manage time effectively. Learn time management skills!
#5 culprit is no down time, If you do not give a break to your body and mind it will slow down and shut off. Do not be robotic enjoy this journey of life. Look at God’s creation around you. Listen to music, read pursue a passion (sports, movies, cooking, dabbling in stocks whatever it maybe) travel, meet chilled out people and laugh heartily!
Until next time, stay cool, calm and collected!
Prof. Anuradha Singh