Frustrated student
Modern day life has provided us with many conveniences, but it has also increased the personal demand for productivity to unnatural levels. The side effects of this include stress, anxiety, a lack of sleep, and a range of health problems created by the chain reaction. How to cope with stress, and limit the side effects, is something everybody should learn.
The secret lies in seeing the whole picture. Stress affects your whole being, showing symptoms in different areas of your life, including your reactions towards family and colleagues, your ability to concentrate and focus, and your ability to make sensible decisions. It manifests itself in forms such as irritability, insomnia, ulcers, headaches, etc. It affects you totally, as a person, and has to be dealt with as such.
Learning how to cope with stress is one thing, doing it is another. You have to commit to working on it constantly before you will have any chance of success. A lot of what you achieve in this regard depends on your approach to the situation. A half-hearted approach will unfortunately yield half-hearted results.
Here are a few basic things you can do to reduce stress:
1. Choose how to handle stressful situations. Keep in mind that you have handled similar situations before - successfully.
2. Manage your time: Plan your schedule, and leave some space for unexpected occurrences.
3. Give your mind a break: Simply playing with the kid or the dog for a few minutes after work can take your mind off it completely. Any physical activity helps to "break the hold" of stress.
4. Avoid getting into negative discussions. Befriend naturally positive people.
Stand back and take a look at what it's doing to you. Once you have identified all the effects of stress on your life, you will be able to decide how to cope with stress.
