Stress hasn’t left any generation or any age except for infants, toddlers, and people with poor mental health who have lost the power of thinking. Yes, they aren’t stressed because they are not dealing with worldly materials. This doesn’t mean the others have to be constantly stressed about something or the other.

Human life is all about stress and stress management. Hence learning the right techniques and executing them should be the need of the hour. Here in this article, I will talk in detail about the condition of stress and stress management. You can go through it and learn from head to toe about the topic.

My first tip will be to, Be grateful to people in life. Show gratitude by being 9 times more positive than counting on their negative values. I always work on one rule, “One negative serves as a crab’s legs more than thousands of parts of lacquer”.

Understanding Stress: Causes, Symptoms, and Impact on Well-being

What is Stress?
Is it synonymous with anxiety?

Anxiety is the result of stress, and being anxious makes dealing with stress more difficult. Stress is the mental and physical state of distress. It can be reversed with conservative measures and support from loved ones.

Stress can have several signs of representation as everybody has a different level of expression. It is not always evident that stress has some symptoms. One may be in the preliminary levels and most probably ignoring the signs due to work or some other reasons.

Stress takes up a toll on one’s physical and mental health simultaneously. Physically one may or may not be injured but mentally there’s always a chemical reaction going on.

A few prominent signs of stress that I have recorded include:

Psychologically

•       Not able to focus
•       Worried always
•       Anxious irrelevant
•       Difficult to memorise events

Emotionally

•       Angry
•       Frustrated
•       Irritated
•       Moody

Physically

•       Hypertensive
•       Inapparent loss or gain in weight
•       Frequent transitions in the menstrual cycle
•       Mostly Ill due to infections
•       Libido

Behaviorally

•       No self-care
•       Addicted to drugs, alcohol, and smoking
•       Not joyous
•       Pessimistic thinking

The impacts of stress and anxiety can be beyond imagination. A stressful lifestyle is a boring monochromatic lifestyle that can be reversed if one starts as soon as possible. Some detected ones have been seen to land in clinics taking psychiatric help. Stress is not only a problem for the person dealing with it but also for his/her loved ones. It can be a financial downfall, addictions, disregard in the workplace, or disrespect from colleagues and relatives.

Therefore I feel blessed to be a conflict resolution counsellor and help generations of conflicts to be solved through the mutual help of the seeker.

The Role of Stress Management Counselling: Empowering Individuals to Cope

Stress crosses limits and the undiscovered stressors start getting discovered. But it’s too late if one is dealing with everything alone. So here comes the need for an expert. Stress management counselling can be a sure-shot way of coming out of a traumatic experience. Here’s what stress management counselling under me holds for its bearers.

• Get to Know What Triggers Stress Buttons

Therapy is magic. One can speak about everything that is stressing them out in a wholesome manner because the front-end personality is never going to judge the sufferer based on their condition.

A good therapist will analyse the situation and identify stressors that have been bothering the person.

For instance, interns in a corporation take too much stress due to their job, senior colleagues, and family pressure. They don’t know how to manage time when new and are stressed due to the imbalance in their lives. Hence good therapy can suggest ways to deal with work and personal life simultaneously.

• Know Healthy Ways of Venting Out Stress

One cannot say that after some point in life, they will be stressed free. There’s always some of it remaining hidden in some cortex of the brain. So why not vent it out safely?

Make space for new ones so that there are new solutions for them. Getting stuck with old problems never lets people grow in life. So move on as fast as you can!

Face the stressors of life. Let the counsellor help to peacefully outgo the stress. Either solve it or leave the stuff behind.

• Coping with the Situation and Practising Self Care

Listening to a guide motivates more impact than doing the thing itself with no motivation. Hence we counsellors try to identify the stressors in your life and be prepared for the worst.

Stress will come and go but self-love and self-care shouldn’t be forgotten. Self-care includes maintaining good health, practising meditation, breathing techniques, self-grooming, listening to good music, and enjoying outdoor activities.

Identifying Personal Stress Triggers: Gaining Self-Awareness for Effective Management

Stress levels and stressors differ a lot from person to person. But gaining self-awareness through the help of counsellors gives a healthy way of dealing with stress. Let’s learn how to identify these stress triggers because this is going to be the first step towards a stress-less lifestyle.

• Watch out for Physical Health: 

Often stress has a peculiar effect on physical effect. It makes the face lose charisma and appears dull and gloomy. Too much hair loss and irregular bowel and bladder habits also count. Similarly, people get lethargic and lose the zeal to put effort into work. Bad stomach aches are the commonest symptoms as reported by people.

• Think about Responsibilities: 

Think about whether he/she feels happy whenever they move inside the work cabin or when returning home. If there’s something that is unusually not giving good vibes, then that can be their stressor. Think about the people staying there, do they make good companions?

• Evaluate Daily Life: 

People may be multitasking thinking they can manage everything but here’s where they have been going through a lot of unidentified stress. For instance, single moms and dads have to take care of their kids, handle office work, do household chores, earn a decent amount, and even then act sweet always. Life isn’t always easy.

• Find External Stressors: 

Sometimes unfavourable weather, bad transport in metro cities, traffic and accidents everywhere, and political elections have bad effects on mental health. The common man is the one to suffer in all this with the least help from big influential parties.

Relaxation Techniques: Cultivating Inner Calm and Peace

Long inhalation and exhalations help to activate the parasympathetic nervous system and get relief from activated sympathetic nervous systems. Why be in a fight and flight mode when one can be calm and quiet? I have seen conflicts destroy most of our healthy lifestyles.

The soul mantra of conflict resolution lies in taking help from an unbiased source. My observation says that conflicts mostly arise when people start considering themselves as always right and don’t heed others’ perspectives.

So here are some of the relaxation techniques that help in the long run if practised religiously daily.

1) Discover inner peace rather than finding peace outside the world. One can be calm while standing in the most crowded streets while some people even get panic attacks on the massage table. So it’s all about discovering the happy space.

2) As said, take long breaths. Long inhalation helps to take maximum oxygen to vital parts kike the brain and heart. Long exhalation gives time to empty the lungs properly. Controlled breathing goes a long way in finding determination and the goal of life.

3) Nobody can keep everyone happy at the same time. So hold on, thinking that someone is fighting with the odds.

4) Knowing and recognising each emotion in the story is crucial. One cannot stop the inevitable to happen but preparation for the worst is even more important.

5) Know the Story: People may think that everything is going out of control but it gets slower once they read their own story. Know the lacuna of the sky. Label each emotion and why that emotion got birth. Don’t run away from the problems but resist and face them. Inquire about the emotions and treat them with kindness and love.

6) Acknowledging, Connecting, and Talking about the Emotions he/she may be dealing with alone. It helps in distributing the sorrow and handling it properly.

7) Don’t ignore the joy list. A joy list is a complete sequence of activities one loves to do when they are happy. At times of stress, it will help them in reminiscing about the moments and tackling them with fun activities.

8) Cultivate a sense of gratitude towards every small thing happening. Smile in the morning in front of the mirror and give a good start to body and mind. Be thankful for this human life.

9) Accept that challenges will come and there will be exams. No one can escape from this situation because after every dawn there is a dusk and vice versa.

10) Serve the needy and get blessings for the future. Practise good self-hygiene such that infections don’t have a chance to enter the healthy body.

Cognitive-Behavioural Approaches: Restructuring Thoughts for Stress Reduction

There are always alternative perspectives on a particular situation. Cognitive behavioural thinking teaches people to be stressed free by choosing the less stressful options. It’s all about healthy thinking without pessimism.

For instance a group of friends went out for a movie but forgot to invite a friend to the next room. That friend might grow negative thoughts against his friends thinking they did it deliberately because they don’t like him. But cognitive thinking asks people to sort out the matter by talking and discussing. Other perspectives can be, maybe they forgot to invite as they were full, maybe the uninvited person missed their invitation or anything else.

Time Management and Prioritization: Achieving Balance and Efficiency

Time management reduces stress among people because they do not forget important events. Being punctual to deadlines decreases half of the work stress as one doesn’t have to work late at night in the last hours. There’s a good time for every hobby to follow. The secret lies in what value we give to those 24 hours allotted to us. A lot of wisdom and a lot of planning can change the perspective of time management.

Must Watch:

1. Organise the list of tasks to be done in a day or week or month.
2. Analyse and prioritise what is important and has to be done immediately.
3. Set realistic goals and divide each step into a target.
4. Communicate with respective delegates who will help in completing the task.
5. Maintaining a flexible time frame for work purposes.
6. As a senior employee, one can even delegate some work to subordinates
7. Planning for good time management.
8. Taking the help of experienced advisors and counsellors for the work.

Healthy Lifestyle Habits: Nutrition, Exercise, and Sleep for Stress Relief

Quality sleep with caffeine deprived diet and regular moderate levels of exercise can help for a healthy stress-free life. Choose 30 minutes of walking over 30 minutes of Netflix and chill. Care for 8 hours of sound sleep. Choose green vegetables and proteinaceous homemade food over fried mouth-licking eateries.

Mindfulness and Meditation: Cultivating Present-Moment Awareness

Mindfulness comes through meditation. Living in the present moment and knowing the purpose of what one is doing and why he/she is doing is known as mindfulness. Mindfulness doesn’t come overnight. It has to be cultivated through breathing techniques, going to social gatherings and participating in social activities.

Meditation under guidance becomes easy to adapt to rather than starting up with zero ideas. Whatever you do at a particular moment, give it your 100%. Don’t be diverted thinking about some other work while you are busy doing something else. This makes task accomplishment a lot easier.

Setting Boundaries and Assertiveness: Empowering Yourself in Stressful Situations

Being assertive is better than being passive or aggressive while in a meeting with a bunch of delegates. As an assertive, one can express their views and keep their stand. Qualities of assertive behaviour include:

1. Respects others views
2. Takes time to present their views
3. Polite and respectful
4. Stands for personal interests without hurting others’ perspectives.
5. Never say yes without knowing the facts.
6. Doesn’t have feelings of victimisation by showing passive behaviour
7. Never aggressive on formal fronts.

Building Resilience: Strengthening the Ability to Bounce Back from Stressful Events

Every time life gives a blow, strong people stand up again and move forward while weaklings give up.

So how to be a strong one?

Build resilience and bounce back to normalcy every time stressful events hit up.

My life story is no less difficult than any other woman today. I have experienced the upbringing of an independent woman after her husband’s death when everything was on the brink of utter loss.

Along with my two young girls, I have. brought up the entire business and tried to inspire many other women worldwide. Today I stand strong and competent in the male-dominated corporate world and provide financial and emotional support to several educational programs for women and young girls.