You just arrived at your job and found out that there's going to be a takeover and that certain positions will be eliminated. You don't know if your position is one of them. Your heart starts beating and all kinds of things will go through your mind. Including what would happen if you were to lose your job.
What happened is that you just went into a fight or flight state. This is simply a leftover from our primitive ancestors when they to deal with hunting for food and to fight wild animals. Our brains are basically the same as they were back in those days. We still react as if losing our job was like facing death. This is the nature of today's stressful environment.
Stress can be negative or positive. Hans Selye described the differences in his book, The Stress of Life. Since stress is usually associated with being bad, this article will address that aspect. Though, I will explain the differences. Distress is what is known as the bad stress. It's usually emotionally based and triggers both adrenaline and cortisol to be released. Eustress is the good kind of stress. This will come from physical activity or from challenges.
In fact, some of the good stress can be a counter measure to bad stress. It's sort of like a balancing act. Our ancestors were able to release any distress by having to directly fight the wild animal and make their way back to their camp or home. It was a part of their everyday living. Hunting for food, as they had to walk many miles, also helped with distress. Today we don't have the luxury of this type of stress release. Nowadays, all we have to do is to go to the local market and buy our food.
So let me tell you the 5 ways to reduce distress and help you to live a healthier and happier life.
1. Start exercising. Exercise is like the eustress I mentioned earlier. As a counterbalance to distress, exercise has many other benefits. This includes the release of beta-endorphins, a natural pain reliever. And the more high intense the exercise, the more beta-endorphins are released. Exercise has also been shown to grow the brain through neurogenesis.
2. Get into meditation and self-hypnosis. Both are focused on the mental relaxation of our minds. When we do this, our stress tends to go down. This is especially true when one practices mindfulness as part of their meditation. Simply staying in the present moment will help to reduce distress that occurs from worrying about the future or what you could have done in the past.
3. Journal your stressful feelings. Writing down how you feel will enable you to deal with it outside of your mind. Sometimes we have to simply step back and see the reality of it. That it's simply just our mind that manifests the distress and not something that is going to kill us.
4. Socialize with others. By getting out and with other people, it will create a distraction from your everyday life and it will help to find people that will help you to deal with your distress in a positive way. It's been found that those that belong to a religious organization tend to suffer from less distress than those that don't. Though, there are many ways one can socialize and that's only one. Others include volunteering activities, social clubs, attending seminars and classes, or going to a local Meetup.com event.
5. Self-Care, Self-Care, Self-Care. I can't tell you enough that self-care is important in every area of your life. Doing so will help to eliminate distress in your life and those around you. It could be a walk in nature, a massage, going to a spa, or any activity that lets you know that you matter. Just do it.
Distress doesn't have to be a big part of your life. It will always be there. It's just how you deal with it that counts. When you do these five things, you'll notice your stress start to reduce plus you'll be healthier and happier.
Check out Optimal Life Seminars today! Just go to optimallifeseminars.com for learning and more... Watch for upcoming events and seminars...
Bob Choat works as a Peak Performance Coach & Trainer and is focused on people in every industry reach a higher level in their lives.
Call 818-620-2494 for coaching/training
bobchoat.com
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