Effective Ways to Manage Stress: Success Tips
Many of us expend a great deal of energy worrying about what may happen in our future. Worst case scenarios that never actually occur. Studies show that we spend 85% of our time stressing over hypothetical situations.
My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened. ~ Michel de Montaigne
When we aren’t getting caught up what may happen, we tend to place our energy on what has happened; ruminating over past experiences. While it is important to analyze our past mistakes, it is not healthy to revisit our errors over and over again-in a place of self-judgement and regret. Learn from it, let it go and move on.
When facing a stressful time, it can be very helpful to categorize and prioritize the things that are causing your stress. There are two critical questions to ask yourself when doing this:
In this situation, is it a high priority or a low priority?
Is it easy to change or difficult to change?
When you ask yourself the two questions (high priority or low priority, able to change or difficult to change?) you can determine where it’s best to put your time and energy.
Not every issue or situation is worth the attention we give it; sometimes we stress over things that really don’t matter, or things we can’t change.
Use these questions to help you decide which problems deserve your attention and which ones don’t, and spend your energy accordingly.
Often, the best way to handle a stressful situation is to determine if it is worth the time and energy in the first place.
Creating a shift in our mindset is the first step in taking control in how we react to the pieces of our life that cause us worry, concern or fear.
Ultimately, we have two choices: If it can be changed, we can put steps into action to change it. If it cannot be changed, we can create a shift in how we are approaching the situation. Allowing stress to be in a place of control does not solve the problem or initiate change; it just alters how we are allowing the problem to affect our health and our happiness.
Once we acknowledge that what is causing the stress is unavoidable- we can begin to walk through it in a place of clarity and acceptance.
Remember: Stress is the situations in our lives- no matter how dire; it is our reaction to the situations in our lives…and that reaction is something we can change.
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders, losses, and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can.
Tomorrow is a new day; let today go so you can begin tomorrow well and serenely, with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. Each new day is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on yesterdays.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
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