Growing up, you heard friends and family lamenting about being “stressed out”. Then came the moment you experienced it first hand. Stress is a part of life, but where does stress come from? What is the origin of stress?.
Where Does Stress Originate?
If you ask 10 people where their stress comes from, they’re likely to mention kids, family, work, and especially money. These are stress factors that are common. Yet, these are causes of stress but not where the stress actually comes from.
There are many different schools of thought. The fact of the matter is that stress is our body’s response to the demands that we place on it. The demands may be physical, mental, or emotional in nature and when we place these demands on our body, chemicals and hormones like Cortisol and Neuropeptide Y are released into our bodies and then we feel stressed.
Stressful Thinking Leads to Stressful Feelings
Some believe that stress can stem from our own minds. This is true to some extent because we can cause stress through our worries, fears, and anxiety.
We often get into the habit of negative thinking where we can somehow convince ourselves about things that are untrue. For example, have you ever convinced yourself that you aren’t good enough, smart enough, or pretty enough to do something? This negative self-talk creates stress within our own minds. Unfortunately, these thoughts are going on unbeknownst to us because we have come to accept our negative thoughts as truth, even when it’s far from it. This is precisely why we need to begin to tame our negative thoughts and replace them with positive truths.
Stress is a normal part of life so we’ll never be able to escape it. What really matters is how we deal with stress, but we all experience stress differently; hence there’s no universal stress treatment!
Dealing with Stress
As we now know, stress is a bodily response to the pressures and demands that we place on ourselves in every day life. To limit the negative effects of stress – such as heart attack, breathing problems, reproductive problems, and stomach problems – you need to learn how to actively manage your stress. There are many simple stress coping strategies that you can employ such as:
- Getting more exercise
- Using positive self-talk
- Getting more restful sleep
- Eating a healthier diet
- Knowing your work limits
- Saying no when you need to
- Asking for help
- Creating time for fun
- Using positive imagery
- Employing deep breathing techniques
- Listening to calming music
- Clearing your life and workspace of clutter
- Keeping things simple
These are all effective ways to deal with the stress in your life, however, you need to remember that the goal is to proactively manage your stress. If you react to your stress, you’ll be spending most of your time putting out fires. Instead, if you constantly implement just a few of these stress management techniques, you will live a healthier, happier, and more productive life!
Over the next several weeks you can expect more articles on the subject, including how, in some instances, stress can be good for you! Other topics will include ways to manage and limit the amount of stresses in our daily lives. Hope to have you.
To Your Success,
Juan
Chindeepinlife 