How to Manage Stress and Beat Overwhelm
How to Manage Stress, Beat Overwhelm and Take Control of Your Life in a Rapidly Changing World
Why Do We Need to 'Manage Stress?'
I'm guessing that something about the word 'stress' must have resonated with you or you wouldn't be here reading this, right?
With the speed of change in our modern day world, it's no surprise that people feel stressed.
This often arises when people feel overwhelmed - when there's just so much going on in their life, and when so much of it seems to come from the outside, from things they can't control, then they feel threatened. It can actually stimulate that part of our brain that evokes our human primitive default to any perceived type of danger - our 'fight or flight' response.
So, what else do we know about stress that might help us to manage it and its impact on us?
Bad Stress or 'Distress'
Stress is a word that is widely used in our modern world, and whilst it can be a good thing, we mostly hear it in a negative context.
"I feel so stressed!"
If you've found yourself saying this, then I'm guessing it's not usually something you'd be feeling too happy about?
Statistics are showing massive increases in cases of depression, anxiety or poor mental health, often brought on by the effects of stress.
Stress is the body's way of responding to demand or pressures and it can be caused by both good and bad experiences.
The human body reacts by making adrenalin and increasing production of a stress hormone called cortisol. You might be sitting in an office but your body decides that you need to activate your 'fight or flight' response. This is the stuff that helped primitive man either do battle with, or run away from, dangerous creatures like dinosaurs!
Unless you actually do fight or flea, your body then has to cope with trying to disperse these things, which if it can't, will build up in the blood and wreak havoc on your mind and body.
Good Stress or 'Eustress'
But what about the so-called good stress?
This was defined by a Canadian biochemist, Hans Selye of McGill University in Montreal in 1936 (Source: Psychology Today). Eustress creates a heightened sense of arousal that can invigorate you and may be linked with a tangible goal.
This cortisol disperses upon completion of the task, whereas the cortisol caused by distress doesn't.
Therefore a certain amount of good stress, or eustress, can motivate us to take action towards our goals.
Business Stress
An obvious cause of distress can be the feelings of isolation and anxiety when things are not going as well as they should be in your business. When you're the boss, it can be quite a lonely place.
This is where having a coach or mentor can help you enormously to feel supported, confident and empowered.
Many of my clients have described such feelings, but fortunately most reported these being replaced by feelings like 'inspired' and 'determined' as I helped them gain clarity, develop strategic plans and implement them successfully.
Managing Stress in Your Life and Beating Overwhelm
There are so many things that can cause stress in life, such as relationship break-ups, redundancies, business failures, health problems, drug or alcohol dependency and financial problems, to name but a few. These kinds of stress-inducers can cause massive mental and physical health issues, affect logical decision-making and increase the risks of depression or shortened life expectancy.
I have to put in my disclaimer here that I'm not a Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Doctor or Financial Planner, but I am a Certified Coach and Certified Trainer in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). I've helped many clients to specifically define the problems, develop new life strategies and work those plans to help turn their lives around and enable them to move towards their goals.
A Sounding Board to Help You Manage Stress and Beat Overwhelm
There's that old saying that 'A problem shared is a problem solved'. I can't guarantee to solve all your problems, but I know that I've helped many people and businesses to manage stress more effectively and harness the power of eustress to create forward momentum and instill confidence.
It all begins with a risk-free decision on your part, to contact me so we can talk.
If you don't do anything, things will probably get worse, but if you make the decision to deal with this stress or beat this feeling of overwhelm, start with a phone call or an email to me and we'll have a conversation.
