Stress

“Stress should be a powerful driving force, not an obstacle.

Bill Phillips

Stress is an ongoing part of life, and we all need to learn how to manage it better, so that the stress doesn’t impact on our health and wellbeing.

You may be noticing a theme over the past few weeks, as we work towards a better lifestyle that includes our physical and mental health and overall wellbeing?  That is whilst I have always known that our health and wellbeing is impacted on what is going on around (and inside us) – the lived experience is always a better lesson.

Life is always full of challenges and prior to commencing my Social Work degree, I was offered a position in a pilot project as a Hospital Based Financial Counsellor.  This highlighted to me that as a species, we don’t plan for illness.  Even knowing this information, when illness hit my family, once again this was illuminated and whilst we were caught unaware, we quickly went into protective mode.

Thankfully, all the skills I have learnt over the years kicked in and whilst the outcomes (we had two crises) were out of my hands, how I dealt with the issues and those around me were in my control.

Utilising skills such as mindfulness, emotional freedom techniques (EFT or tapping), grounding, journalling and elements of positive psychology assisted in reducing the stress and anxiety at the time.

Since the events, I have continued to maintain my mental health fitness regime and am working on the physical health, however, stress continues to attempt to hijack me at times.  When this happens, I put more effort into the skills and increase my gratitude and self-care.

A lot of people don’t seem to understand the concept and importance of self-care.  If this is a strange concept for you, I suggest you explore this more and work on making time for this in your life.  It can really make a difference along with the other skills that I have highlighted.

What works for you in moments of stress?