Everyday, people have to deal with unpleasant situations: fights with their bosses, money loss, bad grades at school, conflicts with their partners, home damages and the list can continue. All these act as stressors and have a great or a small impact on the person. This depends on the person and how well he/she can cope with the daily problems. Unfortunately, stress is starting to occupy too much space in people’s lives and its effects can be seen in their daily life activities.
According to the American Psychological Association, in a 2013 survey, teenagers have admitted to struggling with their problems. Only half of the ones that participated in the survey admitted to being confident on their abilities to deal with their issues. This means that the other half is struggling with their external and internal fights.
Stress is not something that goes away after you take a nap or after a good night sleep. It can stay in the life of somebody for years if he/she does not do anything to deal with it. It is something that people cannot get rid of, they need to learn to cope with it. The first step people should take in the direction of defeating stress is accepting it. Stress comes into our lives in smaller or bigger ‘quantities’: being late for work or the loss of a promotion.
The common element is that it makes people anxious, insecure, angry or depressed, which can have a short or long-term effect. Also, other symptoms can be memory problems, constant worrying, irritability, the feeling of being overwhelmed, eating more or less, sleeping too much or too little, aches and pains, diarrhea and constipation, loss of sex drive etc. These signs represent an alarm for people to wake up and do something because they are slowly destroying themselves physically and mentally.
After you have accepted that stress is everywhere, you need to find its sources. Look around you and see what is making you feel like this: your family, your group of friends, your job and the problems you have everyday or maybe it is you. In all these situations, you need to find exactly what is bothering you.
Try and change the way you see and do things, look at the bright side of things. It is you that can change everything and an important step in defeating stress is facing your problems and not running away from them.
In order to deal with every obstacle from your life, you need to do something for you, to strengthen yourself. We have made a list of suggestions that you can do to become a better person.
1. Physical exercise
Whether we are talking about working out at the gym or jogging for 10 minutes, sport is important for a healthy mind. It releases all the tension and negative energy and makes you feel great.
2. Socialise
Speaking and interacting with different people is as wonderful as it is necessary for a person. It reminds you that you are not alone, you have people around you with whom you can talk about what worries you, what makes you happy.
3. Healthy lifestyle
Eating properly, having healthy meals, hydrating and getting enough sleep are the elements that will help you get on the right track. They maintain your body in balance, which allows you to maintain the other parts of your life in balance.
4. Life is tough
Life is difficult and sometimes, it overwhelms us with too many problems. In those situations, we need to stay strong and follow the principle of the 4 As: avoid unnecessary stress, alter the situation, adapt to the stressor and accept the things you cannot change.
Dealing with stress is not something that you can learn in one day. It needs time because it will put you in uncomfortable situations and test you, but after you pass this stage, you will find out that nothing is impossible and that everything has a solution. Problems will occur everyday and will give us headaches. Be sure to make their posterior hurt twice when you hit them with your solutions.