Heart pounding
Tight chest
Stomach churning
Can’t think straight
Irritability
Loss of sense of humour…
All are classic signs of a physical reaction to situations or events that have stretched our tolerance of pressure beyond its threshold. Most of us will experience ‘stress’ at some point – a negative reaction, physical or emotional, to a particular situation or set of circumstances. What matters is how frequently we are putting our system into this biological ‘fight or flight’ response how we deal with it.
Did you know that the scientific community reckons that being regularly “under stress” (ie to a point where you are experiencing the symptoms like the ones above) shortens our life span by as much as 12 years – in a seminar I went to recently it was claimed that the average lifespan of someone who is frequently stressed is 66 – food for thought.
A certain amount of stress (pressure) is a good thing – that brief feeling of nerves before a presentation helps to hone the senses; having challenges in life or work pushes us beyond our comfort zone and stretches us to peak performance. But operating constantly ‘on the edge’ leads to burn out.
It’s not always possible to get rid of the things that cause us stress. But consider this…an event/situation in itself does not cause stress (if it did then everyone in that traffic jam would be experiencing the same feelings and symptoms), it is our reaction to it that causes the consequences. We can inadvertently increase the frequency or nature of our stress response through ‘awfulisation’ – magnifying the impact of a situation in our minds to something that is disproportionate. Road rage as a response to the perceived inconsiderate actions of others is a good example of this.
Ask yourself on a scale of 1-100 (where 1=insignificant and 100 is a disaster such as a Tsunami) just how bad is this? In many scenarios you’ll find that the situation you find yourself in is not as bad as you think. Seek the positives and tame your negativity – harness your energy to seek solutions and choose a positive attitude.
The best two antidotes to stress symptoms are ones which dissipate the adrenaline that kicks in with the fight/flight response:
If you have a pressured job, try finding a way of releasing tension during the day – time out away from the desk, breathing deeply, taking a short walk and keeping your body hydrated will all help to refresh your thinking.