Friday 14 March 2014

WHAT IS STRESS?


Stress. 
Since I'm incredibly busy lately and I'm having a lot of stress, I began to wonder what it actually is. 
I'm sure (at least I hope so) I'm not the only one suffering from stress. Everyone has it at some point in their lives. When you ask your mom, sibling, friend, cat what it actually means, none of them will be able to give this a concrete definition. So I looked it up and the dictionary says that it's a persistent mental pressure ; tension, which makes sense. 

Then the American Institute of Stress claims that stress isn't useful for scientist, because it's such a highly subjective phenomenon that it defies definition. Can you can't define stress? How can you measure it? The answer to both questions is a simple 'No'.
The reason why you can't is because stress has a different meaning for each one of us. 
Some of use stress to refer to an overbearing or bad boss or some unpleasant situation they were subjected to. For many stress was their reaction to this in the form of chest pain, heartburn, headache or other symptoms. 

Hans Seyle once said: 'Everybody knows what stress is, but nobody really knows'.

So when you tell someone you've got stress and they tell you they know how that feels, they probably don't. The same goes for when someone tells you they know what you mean or what you're referring to they will not know. 

Luckily for us there are ways to deal with stress. I found 9 ways to deal with stress on thischicksgotstyle.com and I'll display three of them. 

1. Look at the big picture
Often ask myself: 'Will this matter in a week, a month and a year from now?' If the answer is no, it isn't worth stressing out over and giving energy to in this moment. Is what people are asking you to do realistic and is it really important, enriching and valuable to you and the business, blog or project you're working on?

2. Eat, sleep, exercise
For me, the most difficult thing is taking good care of myself when I'm busy. Those thirty minutes to cook and that other hour to work out see like a huge burden. But exercise, food and sleep are key players in keeping a focussed mind. Sleeping regularly, staying away from sugar, nicotine and coffee and working out will releave some of the physical tension. On the rare few occasions that I do go to yoga, I notice that it feels great to make my body tired rather than my head. 

3. Share your experience with others
Spend time with positive people and tell them what's bothering you. A strong support system and sweet, positive affirmations help you boost your confidence. Simply expressing what's on your mind, and connecting with others that might go through the same thing - like lack of time to answer e-mails, frustration of taking blog photos when it's cold, not being able to tweak you website design the way you like it, etc - helps relieve some of the emotional strain. 

Photo by Charlotte Brugman







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