Stress.

It’s a common complaint that affects most, if not all of us from time to time. Whether the cause is family responsibility, study deadlines, work challenges, financial woes or relationship issues makes very little difference, the result is still the same, an overwhelmed, tense and severally stressed out you!

According to the Oxford dictionary stress is:

Pressure or tension exerted on a material object.
A state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances.

The simple act of making it through the day can be both adverse and demanding so it’s hardly surprising that ‘being stressed’ is such a familiar state for many. Having said that, just because something is ‘normal’ doesn’t mean that it should be viewed as acceptable.

Change the status quo

Stress isn’t fun. It can affect our physical and emotional health and modify our behaviour.   According to the Mayo clinic, the following are all common symptoms of stress:

  • Headaches
  • Muscle tension
  • Chest pain
  • Fatigue
  • Stomach upset
  • Sleep problems
  • Anxiety
  • Lack of motivation
  • Sadness
  • Irritability
  • Overeating or under eating
  • Substance abuse
  • Social withdrawal
  • Emotional outbursts

With such a depressing list of symptoms, it’s surprising that often, when we feel stressed, we simply accept our situation. It would make much more sense to actively look for ways to change our circumstances and reduce or eradicate the cause of the tension.

Where there’s a will there’s a way

Like everything, stress always has a cause or an origin. Even if you can’t completely remove the root of your stress, there may be ways that you can adapt your response to the pressure and find healthy ways to manage or relieve some of the strain. Here are a few things that you can do to deal with stress in your life:

  1. Simplify – Take time out to look at what it is that is causing stress in your life. It’s easy to over-commit and spread yourself too thinly which invariable leads to unnecessary pressure. Cut back on the things that are causing stress where you can. Alternatively simply removing distractions can help you focus on those areas that can become stressful when you have too many other things going on.
  2. Do something you really love – One of the first things that suffers when we get stressed is our joy. Fight against that by doing something that makes you happy. It could be listening to music, dancing, going for a run, baking, really anything as long as you do it because you love it, not because you have too.
  3. Look after yourself – Stress can affect your sleep, your eating habits and your general health. Make sure you are getting the rest you need, eating things that will keep you healthy and make time in the day to just take a break. Sometimes the simplest things can have the biggest impact and when you’re keeping yourself physically strong you are more able to deal with the challenges you are facing.
  4. Share the load – Carrying a burden alone is only going to add to your stress. Finding people who you can look to for support. They may not necessarily help out practically but having people who you can talk to or who can encourage you can relieve some of the anxiety.

Living with the burden of stress can feel like you’re living a sort of half-life. You can spend more time worrying about things in your life, than actually living it! That’s no way to live. The bible tells us that we should take our fears, stresses and troubles to God rather than be anxious.  Finding peace in stressful situations is about remembering what really matters and that you are never alone during hard times.

If you would like to know about the kind of peace that God gives, please leave a comment or click the link below.