How to Manage Stress

It's important to learn how to deal with stress because in today's crazy world it is difficult next to impossible to escape stress. Most people just deal with it on an everyday basis and they are not sure what to do to stop it from happening. Whether it is stress on the job or at home it can be difficult to deal with.

Ten Tips for Stress Management

How to manage stress tip 1 - react in a healthy way

Stress management is about learning to promote healthy change within yourself. You will need to change the triggers that make a situation stressful. In other words, you'll need to change how you react to certain situations or things to manage your reaction to stress.

For instance, some people do destructive things in reaction to the stress they feel. They often drink, eat, or gamble to take the edge off stress. I know a nice chocolate bar along with a couple of glasss of Merlot always makes me feel better when I'm stressed. But that relaxed feeling is only temporary.

The next day I will wake up with baggy eyes, a bloated stomach, and a foggy head. Really! Only after one candy bar and a couple of glasses of wine! It's just not worth it, so for me, exercise is the key to relieving my stress. It may not sound as sexy or fun as chocolate and wine, but believe me, the endorphins released by exercise will definitely make you feel good instantly and the next morning too.

So, find ways that work for you to change the triggers that make a situation stressful along with how you react to the stress.

How to manage stress tip 2 - organize yourself

Most often, the reason that many moms are stressed is because they have so many things to do and they feel unorganized and always behind. The first step is to stop and take a breath. The next, is to sit down with pen and paper, to look at all the things you have on your plate and see how you can organize them.

How to manage stress tip 3 - slow down and focus

If stopping and sitting down to write something are impossible tasks due to small children wanting to "help" you, then do what I do and mentally and physically just slowwwwww way down and don't multi task. This has always worked for me whether it was in the workplace when I worked outside the home, or now that I'm at home all day with my kids.

Here's what you do and it's simple, just quit moving so fast and slow down. Tell everyone you will get to them when you get to them and ignore the crying and whining, even if it's from adults, don't even respond to it because that's just throwing gas on the fire. Whatever the project you're working on is, stop and slow down. If it's laundry, unless there's a major crisis going on, tune everything out and finish pulling clothes out of the washer and putting them in the dryer. Then go and fold clothes while watching the kids in the den.

If it's a work project, close your door and don't answer the phone unless of course it's your boss calling. Ignore e-mail too. This will allow you to really focus on the project at hand, and once you have a good understanding of the project, you'll feel more confident and in control thereby minimizing stress.

How to manage stress tip 4 - delegate to someone else or for you at a later date

Again, back to the list of things whether it be written or mental, look at or think about it. Are there things you can let go of, or get someone else to do? Are there things that you have been attempting to manage, but have not been able to get to them lately? Make a list of the things you need to do and put a date next to them for when you want to finish them. Often having a list will allow you to check it off as you complete them.

Organizing yourself in this fashion of developing a list will help you feel in control thereby reducing stress immediately.

How to manage stress tip 5 - remember to breath

Learning relaxation techniques also helps. Taking a few minutes when you are stressed to do a few deep belly breaths will allow you to move away from stressful situations. Remembering to breath has always helped me to stay calm in stressful situations. If breathing is the one thing you take away from this page, then you'll be doing good as the act of getting oxygen to your brain helps ease stress immensely.

How to manage stress tip 6 - live for the now

Leaning to live in the now instead of in the past or worst yet, worrying about the future, will also help in stressful situations. You only have the now to think about, and when you work from the now, you will know which way to move forward. Learning to pray or mediate a few minutes each day can also bring your life into a more calm and better perspective.

How to manage stress tip 7 - have a support network

Some more stress management strategies include things like building a support network of people that you can hang out with and enjoy.

Sometimes when stress is thick it is easy to forget that there are actually people who like you, and who want to spend time with you when times get tough.

How to manage stress tip 8 - be positive

Change your thinking about problems and be more positive. Surround yourself with people who are more positive, not negative types who like to complain.

Negative people will just bring you down and stress you out.

How to manage stress tip 9 - learn your lesson

Look at problems as life lessons you are moving through. For instance, divorce is absolutely negative and life changing. But… just think, now you've learned the type of person that you don't want to have a relationship with in the future and, if you know what you don't want in a future relationship, you'll be just fine!

How to manage stress tip 10 - enjoy your family

Spend time with your family. Play games with your family, horse around with the kids, just get lost in their giggles and you're guaranteed to lose an immense amount of stress. Just interacting and playing games let's everyone's guard down and lightens the mood in the house which is also a great stress reliever.

To sum up, all together, here are the Ten Tips for Stress Management:

• Promote healthy change within yourself and change the triggers that make situations stressful
• Organize yourself and write things to do out
• Relax, slow down, and focus on the task at hand
• Delegate when you can
• Remember to breath
• Live in the now, not the past, and don't worry about the future
• Have a good support network of friends
• Be positive and surround yourself with positive people
• Change your perspective and view problems as life lessons
• Spend time playing with your family

There you have it, some simple tips for stress management that can apply to many different situations and anyone can use. These will help alleviate your stress now and in the future by helping you to modify your behavior and reactions to stress.

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