How to Reduce, Prevent, and Cope with Stress........

It may seem like there’s nothing that you can do about stress. The bills won’t stop coming, there will never be more hours in the day, and your career and family life, will always be demanding. But, you have a lot more control than you think. In fact, the simple realization that you’re in control of your life, is the foundation of stress management. Managing stress is all about being in charge of your thoughts, emotions, schedule, and the way that you deal with problems.

The Program's Approaches:

1. Identifying the sources of Stress.

Stress management starts with identifying the sources of stress, that are in your life. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. Your true sources of stress aren’t usually obvious, and it’s very easy to overlook your own stress-inducing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Sure, you may know that you’re constantly worried about work deadlines. But, chances are that procrastination is the likely cause, rather than the job's actual demands, which leads to stressing out about the deadline.

To identify your true sources of stress, look closely at your daily habits, attitude, and excuses:

·     Do you define stress as temporary (“I just have a million things going on right now”) even though you can’t remember the last time you took a breather?

·     Do you define stress as an integral part of your work or home life (“Things are always crazy around here”) or as a part of your personality (“I have a lot of nervous energy, that’s all”)?

·     Do you blame your stress on other people or outside events, or view it as being entirely normal and unexceptional?

Until you accept responsibility for the role that you play in creating or maintaining it, your stress level will remain outside of your control.

2. Discover the methods that you use for coping with Stress.

Think about all of the methods that you're currently using to manage and cope with stress in your life. Your stress journal can help you identify them. Are your coping strategies healthy or unhealthy, helpful or unproductive? Unfortunately, many people cope with stress in ways that worsen their problem.

Dealing with Stressful Situations:

Change the situation: Change your reaction:

Avoid the stressor. Adapt to the stressor.

Alter the stressor. Accept the stressor.

· Stress Management Strategies.

All stress can't be avoided and it’s not healthy to avoid a situation, which needs to be addressed. You may be surprised, however, by the number of stressors in your life that we can help you eliminate, once you learn how to use the following strategies:

·      Avoid Unnecessary Stress.

·      Alter the situation.

·      Adapt to the stressor.

·      Accept the things you can’t change.

·      Make time for fun and relaxation.

·      Adopt a healthy lifestyle.

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