Posts Tagged ‘stressful events’
Stress Diary to help identify your stressors
September 28th, 2008 | 
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What is a stress diary?
You know that you ’suffer from stress’, you know that you fly off the handle at the slighted provocation because you are always feeling tired and irritable - but you don’t know why and you feel powerless to stop it.
Keeping a stress diary is a useful way of identifying those things that cause you stress, and how much stress they actually cause you!
How does a stress diary work?
Basically you need to keep a diary each day and take note of the following:
- Date and time of entry
- Whether there was any particular event that made you feel tense and stressed
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how stressed did you feel
- What symptoms of stress were you exhibiting
- How did you handle the stress (if at all!)
You should keep this diary over a period of time such as a couple of weeks so that you can start identifying patterns of behaviors and events. Soon you will start to be able to identify:
- Which events outside your control is causing you stress (examples include standing in queues, dealing with obnoxious customers etc) and how you reacted to these events. Remember, ultimately it is your own behavior, your reaction to the event that is causing you stress. You need to learn how to modify your behavior to these events so that you experience less stress. As soon as you can identify your behavioral patterns and your reactions to certain events, you can start to manage your stress levels.
- Which stressors were self induced BY your behavior? Examples would include – ignoring the alarm clock and then getting stressed because you are late for work, or, the killer, taking on too much responsibility and work because you think you can handle it and then running out of time (and feeling stressed as a consequence) to complete the tasks.
As soon as you can identify your responses to stressful events and the behaviors that are causing self-induced stress levels you can start doing something about it.
Tags: alarm clock, behavioral patterns, period of time, provocation, queues, running out of time, stress diary, stress levels, stressful events, stressors, symptoms of stress, time of entryRelated posts
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Managing Stress Tips
Not all stress is bad. Stress can start change, aid you in focusing the task at hand, and in some cases can even save your life. Although a build up of stress can result in major risks. Do not let stress accumulate otherwise the result can be fatal.
There are tips and steps in managing your stress. The first thing you need to do is determine and understand the cause of your stress or the stressors. By recognizing the stressors, you can put each of them in place and deal with them one by one.
Breathing And Relaxing
Oxygen is very important to the body. Taking a deep breath adds oxygen to the system, which can help you relax. Learning how to breathe can help you maintain your self-control in a stressful situation.
You can start by taking a deep breath. Stand up and stretch. Always remember that the opposite of stress is relaxation. Take a short walk, get a glass a glass of water and do something that can change your focus. Try smiling and take a short moment focusing on something else other than your problem. By the time you get back to your problem, it would not seem nearly as undefeatable.
Enjoy The Good Things Of Life And Be Positive
Sometimes you can forget to enjoy the good things of life if you let stressful events build up. Remember that life offers more things other than work. Reserve some time to actually recognize the good things in your life.
Every situation has both pros and cons. List them both, put them away and take a second look tomorrow. Sleeping on a situation can sometimes changes disadvantages to advantages.
Everything in this world exists in a balance. Negative can never occur without the positive. Learn to find good in your stressful situation and try to change every negative events into positive.
Know Yourself And Your Limitations
To manage stress effectively, it is very important to know yourself and your limitations. Sometimes, learning to say “No” can spare you from stress build up. If you are in a working environment, do not just accept work loads if you think you cannot manage them easily. By recognizing your limitations, you can evade situations that can usually lead to the piling of work.
Most situations can be out of control. Always be positive and refrain from blaming yourself. If you continuously beat yourself with guilt, not only will you not be able to manage your stress but worsen the situation.
People who unsuccessfully use and resort in drugs and alcohol to avoid facing their problems usually find themselves in a twelve-step rehabilitation program. A major stress management tip is asking for help from friends, family or workmates. You are never alone and there are always people around you willing to lend a helping hand. There are professionals and self-help books that can aid you in relieving stress by giving you useful advice.
There are other several ways to help you manage your stress. If you are into books, sometimes taking time by reading your favorite book can help you in putting the problem away from your mind. Taking a warm bath and watching your favorite show on TV can also help you.
By managing and planning your time and prioritizing the most important things first can prevent stress from building up. Always remember that the keyword in better stress management is Relaxation.
Tags: deep breath, manage stress, Managing Stress, relaxation, stress management, stress relaxation, stress tip, stressful events, stressful situation, stressors, working environment