Stress Management | Handle Stress

Seasoned businessmen and women will tell you that breaking out on their own to form their very own business is probably the largest challenge they have ever encountered. Doing so without stress is very nearly impossible. Suddenly no one is telling you what to do; you are the one telling others. You do not follow the schedule that someone else devised; you make the schedule for everyone else. And as fulfilling and rewarding as owning your own business can be, the risks and stress are on an equal but opposite scale. But getting that business headed in the right direction can be made a little less stressful by things like prioritization. What’s important? That gets done first. What isn’t? That gets put off. Is there a project that is time sensitive? Set yourself a schedule and stick to it. Don’t expect your employees to prioritize if you don’t.

And don’t stretch yourself so thin that there’s nothing left. Many people will be clamoring for your attention and putting demands on you such as never before. If you can maintain a calm, organized outlook, you will be the one that not only keeps your head but keeps it above water. Drowning in a sea of debt in secondary to drowning in stress. Learn how to say no, that word alone can be your new best friend. Learn how to say it with discretion, but learn how to say it and use it. And don’t stress out over all those yellow ‘while you were out’ messages on your desk. Prioritize those in the same manner in which you have prioritized your projects.

Never forget that guy that used to scream at you to get your work done and antagonized all the other employees around you. He did it because he was stressed out. Don’t be that guy. Learn how to handle your stress so that not only you but your business and your employees can run like a fine tuned machine with as little stress as humanly possible in the workplace.

Stress remedies don’t always consist of a manufactured product or even natural food. Sometimes stress remedies can be as simple as changing just one thing in your day. If you are particularly stressed out in the morning a simple change in behavior can smooth out your mornings and allow you to start your day stress free. Make your lunch ahead of time (such as the night before or freeze small portions of a large meal to take and microwave at work), layout your clothes and iron them if necessary the night before. Preparation is the key to a stress free morning. Get gas on your way home instead of having to gas up on your way to work. Listen to traffic reports on the radio so that you are prepared to take an alternate route and avoid the stress of bumper to bumper traffic.

Simple exercise, hobbies, listening to music, meditation, playing with your pet; can all be used as natural stress inhibitors. Going fishing for instance, is one of the most relaxing things that a person can do. It’s no wonder that so many retirees fish. They’ve worked hard all their lives and now it’s time to finally unwind and relax. And unless you’re depending on the fish you catch for a meal, the stress relief that you can achieve through fishing doesn’t even have to have anything to do with actually catching fish. Hunting can be another stress reliever. Not so good for your prey, but relaxing for you. Try hunting with a camera instead of a gun.

Journalism, be it for private use or stories for publication, can be a major stress reliever. Children that have or keep journals are more apt to be less stressed than children who do not. Keeping things bottled up inside is not healthy and contributes to stress levels. If they don’t talk to someone about their troubles, at least they can write it in a journal.

Well, when all else fails… Drugs! If you tend to shy away from that sort of thing (though there are countless numbers of stress relieving drugs on the market: i.e. lorazepam, valium, xanax, adivan) fear not, there are other options. After all, it would never do to solve the problem of stress only to create the stress of dependency. But just as there are certain products that relieve stress, certain other products are doing you know no when it comes to stress.

Coffee for instance, encourages anxiety and pumps up your stress level as well as your heartbeat. You don’t actually have more energy if you drink coffee, you just feel like you do. Alcohol is another product that people tend to use for stress relief but that in reality only contributes to their level of stress and their inability to deal with it. There are teas such as Chamomile, peppermint and willow bark that will relieve stress or stress induced headaches. Sleeping aids such as Ambien, Lunesta, Benadril, Unisom (both prescription and OTC) can assist you in getting the sleep you need to be stress free but seldom do anything for the stress itself.

Certain products on your grocer’s shelves will assist in stress relief as well. People sometimes turn to eating to relieve their stress when in reality snacking on the wrong kinds of foods will do nothing but increase it and your weight. Obesity is, unfortunately, one of the major unhealthy side effects of stress. If you must eat or snack at non-meal times, guacamole is a smart choice. Yes it has fats but they are natural as opposed to the fats you will receive from potato chips. Frozen berries are not only delicious but nutritious. Oatmeal is a wonderful, tasty and nutritious snack that can cool down your nerves and stress. And believe it or not, in moderation, chocolate is a grand stress reliever. Small pieces in frequent intervals are a smarter choice than a lot of chocolate at one time, though.

Relaxing your way out of stress; what a concept! What a shame that more people can’t grasp it. So how do relaxation techniques and stress management go hand in hand? Your mind overloads, as do your emotions, stress takes over and BOOM! Before you know it stress wins out. But there are many different ways of dealing with stress, only one of which is through relaxation techniques. How do you relax? Some people relax, believe it or not, through a well played strenuous game of racquetball. On the other hand, it has been proven that sitting and stroking a pet (such as a cat) in your lap can be genuinely, medically beneficial to one’s well being. If the physical exertion or stroking a beloved pet does not sound like a relaxation technique that would reduce your stress there is always mental relaxation. Relax the soul and you will relax the mind.

Aroma therapy can offer soothing scents which can help one unwind and clear the mind; color can also assist in elimination of stress but is presently one of the most misunderstood factors as to how it can influence or tell us about the mind, body and spirit of others. Music is not only capable of providing us with an irresistible beat to which we love to move our feet, but can relax us to the point of actual sleep.

And of course, there are natural herbs that can help to prevent or erase the untold damages of stress. Hawthorne berries for instance can calm you down when you feel as if your heart is going to beat out through your chest and oats promote not only stress relief but overall wellness. Chamomile and peppermint are popular with tea lovers for a soothing, stress relieving brew. While on the subject of tea, making it from willow bark has been known to bring relief to sufferers of frequent headaches (a common side effect of stress).

What are the causes of stress? Well, what have you got? Anything you throw out there will more likely than not be a possible cause of stress for someone. What seems like nothing to you may be the causes of stress for hundreds of thousands of people; you are simply lucky enough to handle it better. Then again, your causes of stress might seem like child’s play to someone else. Identifying the causes of stress in your life is necessary before you can begin to either deal with them or eliminate them entirely.

Do you find your career stressful? What exactly is stressful about it? Do you not like the people with whom you work? Is your boss on nag? Are you given too much work but too little time? What about your marriage? Is it a good marriage? Do you fight with your partner? What do you fight about; money, the kids, going out, housework? Maybe you are a stressed out student. What is causing your stress? Are the classes that you are taking too hard? Are you afraid that bad grades will have an effect on your home life or future job possibilities? If you are a college student, are you pursuing something in which you are truly interested in? Who are you going to school for… you or your parents?

Then again, contributing causes of stress can be something as simple as diet, lack of exercise, lack of sun shine and fresh air or lack of sleep. The most levelheaded person when deprived of the right nutrients for their body and mind can stress out over seemingly nothing. Is that you? And it is not only what humans identify as being the stressors in life but just how much stress they cause and how much people can take before stress wins out. Life changes can be stressful in and of themselves, it is true. But if those life changes are what will eliminate the causes of stress in your life, those life changes are necessary!