Control Your Stress – Step 1

12 Ways to Control Stress and Energize Your Life:

Where Do You Get All That Energy?

Last week, I introduced this series of blogs on stress control and on energizing your life. Let me give a bit more background before diving into the 12 principles.

Energy is a gift: a gift you give to yourself and to the other people in your life.

How many of you get to the end of your work day, and wonder if you’re going to be able to drive home, cook dinner, play with your kids—or take on the tasks of your second job—the one at home: running a household, parenting, community responsibilities, etc.?

While some people are naturally more energetic than others due to physiological makeup, everyone can nurture energy and get more of it!

“What is Stress?”

When you think of stress, do you think of “bad stuff”? Dr. Peter Hansan says that “stress is neutral until it lands on a person. What that person has chosen to do about past stress and what the person chooses to do in response to present stress will determine the outcome.”

Each person responds differently to any situation. Something that causes stress for one person may not have that effect on someone else. Stress is the way you respond both physically and emotionally. As I said in last week’s blog, stress is good. However, when stress begins to cause physical or psychological problems, it becomes “distress.” Remember that distress is associated with 80 percent of all illnesses being treated today.

Let’s look at both positive and negative stress.

Positive stress can be an effective motivator, a driving force. It can help you focus, perform, and get things done. Positive stress is a healthy part of maximizing potential. You may find that you perform well under pressure. A deadline, for example, may be a constructive motivator for you.

Once a particular task, goal, or challenge has been accomplished, it is important to relax, “come down,” and celebrate this achievement. This rise and fall of your stress level is what keeps stress healthy and positive. The relaxation following a stressful situation lets both you and your body recuperate, regenerate, and demotivate.

Stress is considered negative when you stay at the “peak level” and don’t “come down.” If you don’t have what I call “an adrenaline dip” – where you relax and recuperate – then you run the risk of stress turning into “distress.” Your mind and body cannot stay at this intense level without breaking in some way.

The negative effects of stress are many including:

• Physiologically: ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­high blood pressure and other coronary problems; ulcers and digestive problems; flu and colds as the immune systems falters; headaches and migraines; and sleeping disorders – to name a few.
• Psychologically: lack of desire to go to work, absenteeism, poor or altered performance, difficulty in getting along with peers and co-workers, or poor communication due to lack of focus and energy

However, stress can be controlled. You have the ability and the power to control your life. You can manage the stresses in your life so that you thrive from its natural energy.

We will dig deeply into 12 proven ways to do just that: Control Stress and Energize Your Life