1. Take a deep breath; you might even count to ten before you respond so your mind can engage in the situation and supersede your emotions.
2. Change how you respond to stress. (This can be useful against those who may intentionally try to goad you.)
3. Seek out circumstances that relax you such as friends and family or a favorite hobby.
4. Know what upsets you and avoid the circumstances that contribute to your stress.
5. Set achievable goals. Don’t add unrealistic objectives that only add more stress.
6. Alter your perspective. This might include remembering how past challenges were not as bad as you thought they were originally. Or you might have encountered something that actually turned out being a good thing.
7. Take control off the situation. Sometimes the way you respond to a problem can make it better or worse.
8. Exercise can influence your function of mind and body and thus can help you better manage stress and you will want to fuel your mental and physical tanks with nutritious food.
9. Learn communication skills and conflict management skills. This will help you widen your perspective and provide additional avenues of communication.
10. Plan in advance to an event. If you plan out possibilities of what might happen somehwer and mentally and physically prepare yourself for various scenarios it won’t be as much of a surprise when it actually happens. Just like knowing in advance that we’ll say no to certain sin if we face it, so planning in advance to certain circumstances can help us avoid unnecessary stress.
11. Do something for someone else. Often when I am feeling the most down I encounter someone who is having much worse problems than I and I often end up thanking God for my blessings and praying for the person in a worse condition than I. Its better when I add action to help in additional to my prayer.
12. Pray: Goes is a great listener and through his holy spirit he gives great advice if I can be open to listen.
13. See if a stress diary can help.
14. Learn patience and to stay calm (I still need work on this one)
15. Fear of the unknown can cause stress, but continuing on you will gain experience and the unknown eventually becomes known.
16. How you think, can often influence your results. If you’re a positive thinker you may believe in success and it becomes reality. If one is a negative thinker, he or she might plan for their failusre to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy. We can train ourselves on our thoughts. (Sometimes I’ve used a rubber band to snap against my wrist to help discourage certain thoughts.
Links:
http://www.studygs.net/stress.htm
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1580401,00.html
http://www.helpguide.org/mental/work_stress_management.htm
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_TCS.htm
http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/feelings/kids_stress.html
http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/topics/handling_stress
http://www.womenshealth.gov/breastfeeding/breastfeeding-and-everyday-life/handling-stress.cfm
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTCS_01.htm
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTCS_78.htm
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTCS_83.htm
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/fear-of-failure.htm
Please feel free to give additional suggestions you have on this topic in the comment section of the blog/site.
