Stress. We hear about and feel stress daily, to the point where we don’t even realize how much it is affecting us.
And if we do know how it’s affecting us, we often don’t know how to reduce it or get away from it. It just becomes a part of our life.
In a study done in 2018 in the UK, over 4,600 persons participated, and the stats were quite disturbing.
2018 STATS
- 74% felt so stressed out and overwhelmed that they were unable to cope.
- 51% of adults who felt stressed also reported feeling depressed.
- 61% of adults reported feeling anxious as a result of stress.
And what are the causes of stress? Things we’re told are a part of everyday life: debts, housing opportunities, body image, comparisons to others and the list goes on.
As if stress in our daily lives isn’t bad enough, there is a certain way of thinking that idolizes stress, wearing it as a badge of honour, believing that we’re not working hard unless we’re so stressed we can’t think straight. Stress has been put up on a pedestal, and we honour it, or are so indifferent to it we don’t think twice about why we feel so bad.
There’s a reason stress makes us feel terrible.
And that’s where I come in. I am a Wellness Coach, specializing in Stress Management. For years, I stressed. I was stressed before there was something to stress about, over-stressed about things when they did happen. I was a stress-o-holic, and I wore it like a badge. It wasn’t until recently I started to manage it and, my life did change for the better.
Of course, it’s easier said than done, but starting small, with something healthy done every day, lets you feel better about life, yourself and goes a long way. The items below are some of the things I did:
- Wrote out my dreams on a daily or weekly basis. This made it into a goal, something tangible.
- Scheduled self-care regularly. Self-care can be a bath, a spa day, an extra hour of sleep.
- Practiced daily affirmations
- Stopped comparing myself to everyone else.
Visit my website for more information on stress management.
Stress can be handled. Don’t let it get you.