Stresses are unavoidable, and there’s not a single soul who’s not been stressed at all. Some people seem to get over with it quickly, and some people have a feeling of stress hangover with them all through. What distinguishes them is how they react to it and recover from these situations. Stress is taking its toll on families and individuals everywhere, especially in the time of recession; the financial woes have done nothing but added to stress. Families are worried that they will not be able to make ends meet and the money earned will only be used for settling bills. Many retirement accounts have been vanished.

A little stress in life is good if it invokes motivation and challenges us to perform better in a healthy way. But chronic stress, constant worry leads to anxiety and affects our health.

If you are feeling stressed, anxious or overwhelmed about something, here’s a simple step you can do to overcome the situation. Stop all activity, think about what made you anxious, take a few deep breaths, allow your nerves to calm down and then take an appropriate action of your choice from the list below.

Here is a list of few things you could do to help you relieve stress

1. Eat properly and do regular exercises

2. Set yourself targets to achieve. Your goals should be realistic and practical.

3. Try to complete the most important work first, and then the other work. Learn to prioritize and remove the unwanted tasks.

4. Reduce the urge to be a perfectionist. You are human and bound to make mistakes somewhere down the line.

5. Be flexible in your approach.

6. Avoid excess competition, but do not fear from competition either. Competitions help to bring out the best from you.

7. Do not buy on criticism, but constructive criticism is not to be neglected.

8. Do not worry too much if you fall short of expectations.

9. Exercise control over your temper

10. Push away negative thoughts

11. Take time out for yourself and spend some time alone thinking about the activities you planned for today, and make a plan for tomorrow

12. Keep quiet when someone’s yelling at you.

13. Keep smiling and be cheerful, it will de-stress others around you.

14. Try to keep the atmosphere light. Try to crack a joke when you are stressed out.

15. Practice meditation and yoga. This will help you relax.

16. Call a friend or your loved ones and speak to them for a while

17. Watch a funny movie or video on the internet

18. Take a massage followed by a hot shower

19. Indian head massage

20. If you like dancing, dance to your favorite music

Remember, when stressed out, it is important to take an action to relieve stress. Don’t make a mistake by doing negative things like drugs and alcohol. Be positive in your approach, think good, do good and only good will happen to you.

When stressed out, people tend to feel hungry and often set out to the canteen and grab a snack. Eating snacks gives a feeling of comfort to many people, but many of them don’t realize that eating snacks can add to the stresses instead of minimizing them. Since eating gives a feeling of comfort, people also tend to overeat sometimes. Most common substance taken in during stress diet is caffeine, which are not only found in coffee, tea and soda. You can find caffeine in chocolates too. Caffeine adds to your stress by increasing heart beats and blood pressure. It is advised to cut back taking in caffeine. Reducing the intake of caffeine will reduce your stress. But do not just stop it abruptly; else you may suffer the ill effects of withdrawal. Do avoid it, reduce it gradually.

Alcohol is another substance people turn to for reducing stress. While it gives a feeling of elation to your mind, the body is still under tremendous stress. Alcohol makes your body to produce adrenaline and affect your immune system. You may not feel sleepy even though you are tired. Alcohol only adds to your worries, and increases stress.

Another common comfort food for stressed out people is sugar. There’s hardly anyone who wouldn’t have had an ice-cream, or a candy after a long day at work or any other stressful activity. Sugar affects your adrenaline glands and you may feel depression and irritated.

Fatty foods like sugar strain your cardiovascular system. You are leading your heart to more stress by eating such foods. You must also avoid salty food as this increases blood pressure. You will loose control over your emotions. If emotionally disturbed, you are likely to feel agitated later on with compound feelings.

One more disadvantage of eating all the above food is that when stressed out, these foods add to the weight on your body and start showing gradually. Many obesity cases are due to unhealthy eating in stressful conditions.

Eating chocolates, fatty foods, sweets, salty foods are all harmful when I’m stressed out. So, what is it that I should eat to avoid hunger pangs when I’m hungry and stressed?

To control your stress and avoid hunger pangs, take in fruits, vegetables and whole grain food. These will naturally assist you in fighting stress, are good for your health as they are rich with nutrients. These foods are fat free and you will not gain weight. Maximize the nutrients by eating them raw; you will loose vitamins and enzymes after cooking them.

Here are a few tips on eating habits which could reduce stress

1. Do not skip your meal, have at least 3 meals a day.

2. Try to eat at the same time everyday.

3. While eating focus only on eating. Do not eat while you drive, walk or work. Finish your food and proceed to whatever you want to do.

4. Incorporate fruits, salads in your meals.

5. Drink plenty of water.

There is not a single person who doesn’t feel stressed out. But it is all in the thinking that we feel the level of stress is increasing, and sometimes we worry on things which are not real. There is a saying that imaginations create demons which are more dangerous than reality itself. By thinking and worrying too much about something, we are stressing our minds. We must learn how to exercise control over our thinking, and we will experience less stress. We need stress in small quantities to keep ourselves attentive to solve issues and problems, business and family needs. Most of the time we induce stress on ourselves for no reasons, and this is preventable.

Stress is a silent killer, and being too anxious is not good for health and your social status. People often torture themselves with thoughts and feelings. Self induced stress can be avoided by utilizing your time working out ways to tackle problems rather than thinking about it.

If you do not plan well in advance, you may get into trouble or fall short of achieving what you had set out for. We may find ourselves in the middle of nowhere if we travel to an unknown place for the first time without a set of clear instructions or a map or guide. If planned and organized properly, we could save time, money and unwanted stresses.

Another reason for stressing out in our daily lives is not organizing the desks, work place, closet, home, etc. These things if properly organized could save a lot of time and stress. If your desk is organized, you won’t have to look for a pen amidst papers and files; you could just pick it up from the pen stand or pen holder.

It is very common not to find your car keys on the key stand. The previous night you could have left it in your pockets and put the clothes in cleaners. Taking time out and organizing your self and your surroundings will help you in preventing the self induced stress.

A poor mind set will not help you overcome self induced stress. Learn to forgive yourself when you make a mistake, after all you are just a human being, and are bound to make mistakes. You cannot be flawless all the time. Learning from mistakes will help you preventing from inducing stresses on yourself.

Here are ways to avoid self-induced stress

1. Eliminate stress inducing from your mind

Self-induced stress is something that you bring it from your choice. It has nothing to do with the outside world. You can fix the problem. Set your mind to overcome the issue, you can eliminate self-induced stress from your life.

2. Look at the brighter picture

Learn to take positives from mistakes and correct what can be corrected.

3. Combat self-induced pressure

Laugh it out and forget those things which you cannot solve. Take a break and find peace. Keep yourself occupied with things that you like to do.

Stresses are not easy to avoid, but trying to avoid them will definitely reduce stresses in your life.

The response to pressure from out side world causes strain to us physically, mentally and emotionally. This strain is termed as stress. When stressed out, our bodies react by releasing chemicals into blood which could induce more energy and strength. The most common reaction to stress is losing temper, getting irritated, tension, lack of concentration, headaches, increased hear beats, etc. Stresses are not always bad to have; we would like have stresses because it adds excitement and spice to a dull life. But over stressing can be harmful physically and emotionally. Many relations are hampered due to stresses, and not knowing how to exercise control over such situations. Stress is a way your body responds to any kind of demand, due to good or bad experiences. Let’s take a look at few overload situations people come across almost everyday of their lives.

• Husband and wife working full time, while their parents are dependent on their help for shopping due to health conditions.
• You are running hand to mouth over expenses and you are denied a hike in pay. You hardly seem to make ends meet and barely save some money.
• Divorced parents sharing the custody of child arguing with each other on matters concerning the children. These arguments tend to arise out of nowhere and more frequently.
• Ever increasing competition at work makes you feel pressure and for survival you work day in and day out. You may take up more work than you can handle. Working very early, staying up too late to complete your job. Taking time to recheck work to correct the mistakes, etc.

Types of stresses

1. Survival stress

It is a common response to fight dangers or run away from it, depending on the situation. When you feel that someone is trying to hit you, you’d react by hitting him before he hits you, or you’ll get clear and avoid getting hit. There is a sudden burst of energy in you enabling you to survive this physical danger.

2. Internal stress

You must have come across a crossroad in your life where you would have felt that you are not capable of handling certain situations, or you start worrying for no reason at all. This kind of stress is very difficult to understand and manage. This happens when we put ourselves in stressful situations and start worrying about things irrelevant to the issue.

3. Environmental stress

Responding to the situations which surround you is natural. For example, when passing by a noisy area, we tend to close our ears. We react differently to noise, crowds pressure from family, friends and work. Identifying environmental stress and getting a control over them will help reduce stress level to a great deal.

4. Stress due to fatigue and overwork

Working hard throughout the day takes a heavy toll on the body. One of the common reasons for such stress is the inability to manage time properly. Find ways to relax when you are uncomfortable, and stressed out.

Stress is there in every aspect of life, but being stressed out or not is in our hands. We don’t have control over what will happen to us, but what we can control is how we react to those situations. But that doesn’t mean we have to laugh out everything. The more stressed out we are, we become prone to cold, flu and other diseases.

Today when recession has hit us badly, we are fighting our ways to live and trying to spend as little as possible. A simple lifestyle is way to relieve stress, and nowadays it has become essential for monetary reasons. But when simple lifestyle is not an option open for people, they feel stressful and deprived. Taking up simple living due to economic needs can also be stressful to those who are not used to this type of living. Here are a few tips on relieving stress.

Get the right attitude

The most important aspect of living a simple life and reduce stress is to change the attitude. Try to be happy with what you have and what you get, rather than thinking on what you’d like to have, or what you wanted to get. Being content with what you have will give you fulfillment and reduce stress.

Cut Back

Do not make unwanted expenses and try to remove those things which you feel that you haven’t used, and aren’t likely to use it any more. Getting rid of unwanted stuff from your house, may also bring in stuff which you felt you lacked. Here are a few points on how you can cut back on your expenses.

• Are you passionate about books? Instead of buying books and stacking them at your home after you’ve read it, become a member at a library near your locality. The same goes with movie buffs. Renting movies and books will save you lot of money.
• Try to make use of offers while shopping. Buy toothpaste of 400 grams instead of 200 grams if you get a toothbrush free with it. Some stores have reward points on shopping for a certain value. If your bill is near a value close to getting you reward points, buy something else to reach that reward point. You can redeem these points for some exciting gifts later.
• Avoid eating out often, it is expensive. Plus you get to kill time on long weekends by cooking your own food.
• Pay your bills online. Third party commissions, late fees etc can be avoided by doing so.
• Save fuel by walking or biking to go to places which are not too far. This will help you in exercising and save money at the same time.
• Switch off lights and electrical appliances when not required. This will cut your electricity bill.

There are many other ways of finding things you want for less money. Sometimes we can find them free of cost. But the key is to know what is available where, at what price and how you can derive maximum gains from these resources.

Life would be so wonderful if it weren’t for other people. Let’s face it, people will upset you. They will say things that will hurt your feeling.

And no matter how well you plan, problems and challenges will pop up. You will be stressed out. But it’s your responsibility to do something to feel better.

Here are 7 tips that can help you right away:

1) Don’t just sit there. Move! According to many psychologists, motion creates emotion. You might notice that when you are idle, it’s easier to become depressed. Your heart rate slows down, less oxygen travels to your brain, and you are slumped somewhere in a chair blocking air from reaching your lungs.

I challenge you right now, regardless of how you are feeling, to get up and walk around at a fast tempo. Maybe you might want to go to an empty room and jump up and down a little bit. It may sound silly but the results speak for themselves. Try it now for a few minutes. It works like magic.

2) Smell the roses. How do you smell the roses? How about investing some money to go on that one trip you’ve been dreaming about? Visit a country with lots of exotic places to jolt your imagination and spur your creativity. You need to detach from your daily activities and venture a little bit.

3) Get some company. If you’re like me, you have many acquaintances, but you only have a few true friends. This isn’t because I’m introverted. It is because I’m very selective about who I let enter my territory. I have worked too hard to build my house-my dream-and I won’t let anyone destroy it for me in the blink of an eye.

When you’re feeling down, call your true friends and share what it is that you’re going through. Ask for their advice or input. While their advice or suggestions may be helpful, often you’ll find that simply verbalizing your problems will help you feel better.

4) Help others cope with their problems. It is very therapeutic when you engross yourself in helping others. You will be surprised how many people’s problems are worse than those you may be facing. You can offer others assistance in countless ways. Don’t curl up in your bed and let depression and stress take hold of you.

Get out and help somebody. There are many charitable organizations that can use your help right now. My dear cousin Barbara reads to the blind. Call the National Federation of the Blind so that they can tell you how to get involved.

5) Laugh a little. By now you’ve heard that laughter is a good internal medicine. It relieves tension and loosens the muscles. It causes blood to flow to the heart and brain. More importantly, laughter releases a chemical that rids the body of pains.

Every day, researchers discover new benefits of laughter. Let me ask you this question: “Can you use a good dose of belly-shaking laughter every now and then?” Of course you can. What you are waiting for? Go a comedy club or rent some funny movies.

6) Visit third world countries. Nothing is more humbling than to visit a poor country and see first hand what other human beings go through just to survive. Most people who have taken such trips come back with a deep and profound sense of gratitude and appreciation.

They realize how much they’ve taken for granted without ever realizing it. I encourage you to travel whenever you can afford to do so. You’re not too busy. Do it for you. Your life will never be the same.

7) Wear your knees. If there were one sustainable remedy I could offer you when the going gets tough, it would be prayer. Many people, depending on their faith, might call it meditation. It doesn’t matter to me what you call it, as long as you have a place to run to.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “Religions are crossroads converging upon the point.” Well, I don’t often discuss religion, and I don’t know what works for you; but Christianity is the way I know. However, I am sensitive enough to respect your faith. My whole point is that when everything else fails, prayer works!

This article is an excerpt from Rene Godefroy’s best-seller No Condition is Permanent. Rene is a motivational speaker that boosts morale and rekindles the spirit in the workplace. For more info about the book, visit Motivational Speaker

Do you feel tense and anxious at work? Do your co-workers and/or boss make you crazy? Is your personal life less than blissful? If so, you’ve got stress. If you’re like most people you’ve sought refuge from this situation by trying a quick fix or two like calling a friend, walking the dog, or going away for the weekend in an attempt to escape it all. While these strategies may serve as temporary diversions, nothing in your life changes when you return to your routine.

Stress is internal, which explains why it can wreak havoc on your health. It feels awful…it’s the sense that you’re not in control. The easiest way to mitigate its effect is to take charge of the one and only thing you have the power to control…YOU, and let go of what you can’t control. The beauty of this recipe is that by taking control of your life, external or outside things will change in response to your internal changes. Here are 10 steps to destress for your present and future:

1. Heal yourself.

Dr. Bruce McEwen, who wrote The End of Stress As We Know It, suggests that eliminating stress comes right from your grandmother’s journal. He says the most effective steps you can take are the simplest: exercise, a healthy diet, regular sleep, moderate to minimal alcohol intake, and no smoking. This, he notes, is the most sophisticated, up to the minute, cutting edge science available!

2. Get organized.

Physical clutter reminds us of things that need to be done and that’s stressful. Remove your physical clutter and you’ll eradicate your mental clutter, plus you’ll feel energized. Please go to http://topten.org/public/AG/AG306.html for a simple organizing solution that will work on any space.

3. Set boundaries.

Boundaries act as a filter to keep you safe from the hurtful behavior of others while allowing in the love, support and nurturing actions we all need. Set your boundaries by: (a) determining what others cannot do to you or in your presence and (b) sharing this information respectfully with anyone who is stepping over one of your boundaries.

4. Take time for yourself.

Put together a list of all the things you love to do but haven’t regularly made time to do. Put your list in priority order and enter the top five to seven items into your daily calendar. Your list may include things as simple as journaling, reading a great book, taking a bubble bath, yoga, etc. You’ll be more successful getting to these activities when you give them a time and place on your calendar.

5. Be positive.

William James, the father of modern psychology said, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that man can alter his life simply by altering his attitude of mind.” In other words, what you say and what you tell yourself impact the present and create your future. Love yourself and use the power of positive words, pleasing thoughts and affirming beliefs to live the life you want to live.

6. Work in a career you love.

If you’re like most people, you spend the majority of your waking hours at work. You’ll know you’re in the right profession when: you wake up anxious to go to work, you want to do your best daily, and you know your work is important.

7. Surround yourself with a supportive community.

You are who you spend time with. Hang out with people who love and accept you just the way you are, are interested in you (not what you can do for them), lift you up (not wear you down), solve problems quickly, don’t gossip or complain, and know how to have fun. Anything is possible with the right support.

8. Learn to say, “No.”

We’ve all been influenced by people in our life who tell us we should do this or we ought to do that. As a result, we may end up living a life that others have decided for us versus living the life we want. So, the next time you think of something you ought to do or someone else suggests you should do, take a breath and ask yourself if it’s something you want to do. If not, just say, “no” or “no thank you.” When you say no to things you don’t care to do, you are saying yes to you and this will free up your time and energy for the things you choose to do. Bottom line – you’ll be happier.

9. Zap tolerations.

A toleration is something that irritates you and drains your energy because it needs to be done, fixed, removed, or changed. If you’re like most people you may be tolerating 100 or more things! Put together a list of all the things that bug you, e.g. a dripping faucet, money concerns, your weight, shopping and running errands, not enough time, computer files out of control, your hair, a room that needs to be painted, etc. When your list is complete, group like items and see if one solution will eliminate multiple tolerations. For example, if you have piles of clothing in each bedroom, dirty windows and dust bunnies on your floor, hiring a housekeeper will zap all three tolerations. Line up a housekeeper, today. Then, commit to spending a chunk of time each week to zap your other tolerations. If you have a toleration that you don’t have the skill or know-how to fix, consider calling an expert or seek out a skilled professional to trade services with.

10. Get your needs met.

A “need” is not an option, it is something you must have to function fully. It is differentiated from a “want” in that a want is optional. Unmet needs can drive you to distraction and worse. Determine what needs you have that aren’t being met, if any, and then take the appropriate action to get them fulfilled. Example: If you’ve taken a big hit and are going through a career transition, ask a good friend to call you two or three times a week to check in with you and give you support. Other options include calling your own voice mail and leaving supportive messages or hiring a coach who specializes in career transitions. When you acknowledge and satisfy your needs, you will be free to focus on other areas of your life.

If you want to be happier and more successful, focus on the things you have the power to control.

Pam N. Woods is co-author of a bestselling book, Create the Business Breakthrough You Want: Secrets and Strategies from the World’s Greatest Mentors; endorsed by Ken Blanchard and Dr. Stephen Covey. She is a Coach U graduate and President of Smart WorkLife Solutions, a coaching and consulting company devoted to co-creating customized solutions to fit clients business and personal organizing needs. Prior to founding her own firm she had a successful 20+ year career as an insurance executive and Vice President of Human Resources. For more free how-to articles and advice, or to contact Woods, visit http://www.worklifecoach.com. Copyright 2004 – Pam Woods

Do you attack problems and solve them or do you whine and moan about how it’s just not fair?

Do you anticipate and plan for the future or do you worry about what’s around the next corner?

When life hands you a lemon, do you make lemonade or do you complain about the size of the lemon?

Do you see the glass as half empty, half full, or perhaps just not big enough?

Let’s look at a few ways to be a worrier, and see if you recognize any thing in your self. Then we’ll look at how to be a warrior.

How to Be a Worrier

We all worry. It’s a part of life. It’s what we do with our worries that make the difference.

In order to be a championship worrier however, you need to adopt a few of the following traits:

Worry. A lot. Raise it to an art form. Believe it makes a difference.

Anticipate the worst in every situation, then drag your mind and emotions into the future as if it’s really happening right now.

Really, honestly believe that worrying enough can actually change something.

Do nothing about your worries. Take no action at all.

Make your ongoing question in life “what if…..?”, and then make no plans for what if.

Your motto is “survive the day.”

You worry that you don’t know enough about something and are afraid to learn.

You spend 95% of your time worrying about a problem and a mere 5% on solving it.

How to Be a Warrior

Before I give you a few traits of a warrior, it might be useful to explain what I mean by the term warrior. What I don’t mean is someone who picks fights, enjoys hurting people, or walks around with a sword and shield.

What I do mean is someone who takes on life as a challenge and lives to get the very most out of each day, for themselves and those they care about.

Here’s a few traits of a warrior:

When you have a fear, you face it. It’s the quickest way to make it go away.

Your motto is “seize the day.”

If you don’t know, you ask!

You spend 95% of your time, energy and resources solving a problem, and no more than 5% of your time worrying about the problem.

You know that the sure-fire cure for worry is ACTION.

You know how to think and problem solve in creative ways, called “thinking outside the box” in the business world.

You have an almost insatiable curiosity about the world.

You have the unique ability to look at something that has always been there, and see something that no one else has seen before.

You have what Stu Weber in his book “Tender Warrior” calls a “provisionary heart.” This is the ability to look at the future, anticipating patterns and trends, and then not only prepare to survive but thrive as well.

If you find your self identifying with the traits of the worrier more than the traits of the warrior, here’s two things you can do about it:

1) stop worrying about it, and then

2) practice and adopt the traits of the warrior. Try them on and see what you can do with each of them.