As we have been discussing this week, people use four basic strategies to manage stress. They avoid stressful situations or the people that trigger them. They alter situations they can’t avoid. They adapt to the situation by changing their response. Or they accept the situation so it no longer acts as a stressor. In our last post we offered examples of how to apply these stress-relieving strategies to situations in your own life. We continue those examples today.
• Alter your response. Stand up for yourself and your needs. Deal with problems as they arise; don’t let problems fester and grow. Be assertive in expressing your needs but be willing to compromise to accommodate the needs of others.
• Alter the way you manage time. Allow extra time in your schedule to deal with the unexpected.
• Adapt when stress turns your life upside down. Emphasize the positive. Remember the things you’re thankful for. It helps to focus on the big picture. Ask yourself if it will matter in a week? a month? a year? 10 years? If the answer is no, move on.
• Adapt your response to situations beyond your control. Don’t hyperventilate when traffic snarls; enjoy the opportunity to groove to your favorite tunes.
• Adapt your expectations. Show perfectionism the door. Trying to meet impossible standards is a sure path to failure. Be reasonable in the expectations you set for yourself and others.
• Accept what you can’t control, such as the way other people behave. Instead, control your response.
• Accept that life has its ups and downs. Take responsibility for mistakes you make along the way and learn from them. Consider life a continual opportunity for personal growth.
Let me know what you think