How stressed are you?
The word ‘stress’ has become part of our everyday language. Most of us can freely express that we are stressed and entrepreneurs often confuse this as a barometer of achievement, as if our stress levels are related in some way: ‘the more stressed I appear, the more I am achieving!’
Unlike pressure, stress is never good for you and never a positive thing. Stress is a condition, or feeling, experienced when a person perceives that the demands placed on them exceed the resources the individual has available. The symptoms of stress significantly affect both your emotional and physical health.
Pressure is short term, creates adrenaline and you remain resourceful; stress assaults your nervous system and contributes to 95% of all physical illness.
The antidote to stress is to learn to build resilience and better emotional resources, even if we don’t feel we can do anything about what we believe to be the cause of our stress, such as illness or financial worries. The true cause of our stress is rarely what we observe it to be. Its epicentre is always a lurking fear, such as the fear of loss, for example, or fear of confrontation, or the ultimate trigger – fear of discovering you aren’t good enough.
Our relationship with the need to be in control has a huge influence on our stress levels, too. Never before in life have we needed to learn to become more adaptable, rather than the old model of control and dominate. Becoming adaptable requires self-confidence, strong self-belief and identity, great listening skills and trust in others. Most humans have had a few knocks in these areas and are battle weary at times. This is when we are most prone to stress; you can’t
pour from an empty glass.
On a scale of 1-10 how stressed are you now? *10 being high
- 1-4 Share your secret!
- 5-8 Your adrenal systems are over active. You will be showing symptoms of stress. Important notice – take time to relax
- 8+ Stop and assess your life. What’s working? What isn’t?
If you scored high, imagine how much better you would feel and look without it.
Say ‘no’ to stress – 10 top tips to becoming stress-free
1. Be honest
Do you listen to and trust your instincts? Identify the fears that are really causing you to feel stressed? What’s stopping you from making the changes you know you need to make? What do you need to start/stop doing? Stop making excuses, even ones that sound plausible!
2. Slow down
Focus and do one thing at a time and finish it.
3. What makes you happy?
Do more of it. Often we have forgotten what lights us up in life when we are too busy being busy.
4. Be thankful
Complete this sentence 10 times. One way life is loving me right now is…
5. Be kind – to yourself
Check your self-talk – you wouldn’t be that hard on anyone else would you?
6. Simplify your life
Let go of clutter, dramas and people-pleasing
7. Ask for and accept practical/emotional help
Not just when you’re on your knees – involve people all the time, because people like to help. It’s not weakness, it’s smartness.
8. Body care
Get the right fuel into your body, limit the booze. There are links between vitamin deficiencies, gut health, dehydration and high stress levels.
9. Move it
Hit the gym, dance, skip, breakdance – whatever floats your boat. Unused energy turns into negative, lethargic energy and can turn against you.
10. Relax
Park your brain; breathe in slowly through your nose for the count of 7… breathe out slowly through your mouth for the count of 11. Just 5 mins sitting with a quiet mind will switch your nervous system into relax, even when chaos surrounds you.