Why is stress management important? How does stress affect your life?
Identify three stress management techniques you are going to use to decrease your stress levels. How can you apply these strategies to your life? How will these strategies help you manage your stress?
There are many things that can cause stress in our daily lives one way or another and the biggest issue is the fact, that if you do not manage this stress, it will accumulate just like the snow in the snowball. This snowball can turn into the avalanche and this avalanche can cover the whole person without any chance to avoid it or cope with it somehow. Accumulating stress without any release or managing it can lead to poor job performance, depression, health problems, and many other issues that are unable to be fixed immediately. Being stressed also affects the ability to concentrate and can cause headaches, panic attacks, and irritability.
My mood affects my life a lot. At the same time, stress affects my mood drastically. It means, that if I am stressed I simply cannot force myself to do something or do it badly. Because of the stress I easily feel tired and sometimes even start feeling blue or apathetic. Almost two years ago, after accumulating a lot of stress I started having health problems that I am still trying to fix. This stress not only led to this issue but also demotivated me a lot and I could not do my routine and work properly unless I managed it and rested a lot.
There are many ways to manage our stress to decrease its levels and I selected the following three to use in the future:
– focus on breathing;
– create artwork;
– ask for support when needed.
There are many breathing techniques (and some people even believe that they can lose a lot of weight by simply breathing differently). Since our childhood, we know that taking a deep breath helps to calm down and it really works: slowly breathing through our noses, lengthening exhales, belly breathing – all this helps to fight the anxiety, calm our bodies and brain. Breathing techniques help to relax and lower the levels of anxiety and stress.
Creating artwork in many ways is similar to meditation. Somehow I am too restless for Yoga or meditating but I enjoy making pieces of art – it helps to relax, forget about stressful things and concentrate on something bright and beautiful. Some people like simply coloring (there are many stress-relieving coloring books for adults), the others – drawing geometrical figures. As for me, it depends on the exact moment of my life – sometimes I enjoy drawing people, sometimes I spend hours drawing comics and sometimes – any other cartoonish characters. After drawing for a couple of hours I always feel relieved, less stressed and if I had a headache – it is gone afterward.
Finally, it is very important to ask for support when you really need it. It often happens that I become very stressed simply because I do not understand something or cannot do something alone. For example, having deadlines and feeling that you will probably not meet them can be very stressful. In situations, when you need help you should always ask for it – it helps not only to manage stress but drastically lower its levels.
References
Amba Brown. (2020, April 22). 62 Stress Management Techniques, Strategies & Activities. Retrieved from https://positivepsychology.com/stress-management-techniques-tips-burn-out/
College success. (2015). Retrieved from http://open.lib.umn.edu/collegesuccess/
Elizabeth Scott. (2020, January 8). Effective Stress Relievers for Your Life. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/tips-to-reduce-stress-3145195