How to stress less
Tamar Willoughby,
16th Jun 2018
Tags:
Life
Blog
Education
Exams
Stress
Stress is something that almost all of us have had to deal with at least once in our lives.
The dictionary defines stress as ‘a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances.’
So if you’ve ever been through anything that is demanding or adverse, (which basically means harmful or anything that stops you feeling happy), and it has taken its toll on you, and affected your day-to-day life, chances are that you were experiencing stress.
Stress is natural, and it’s definitely okay to experience it. It becomes an issue though when it lasts for a prolonged amount of time and stops us from enjoying our lives; when it affects our eating habits, relationships, and our ability to get school, college, or uni work done.
Thankfully there are steps that we can take to help us in times of stress.
Thankfully there are steps that we can take to help us in times of stress, and to reduce our chances of having stress negatively impact our lives in a significant way.
Personally, I think the first thing that helps me when I’m feeling stress creep in, is perspective. It’s so easy to zoom in on our current situation, or this future event that we’re stressing about, and allow that to become all that we focus on. If we’re overly focussed on one aspect of our current experience, then we lose perspective, and worries and negativity expand and become the most significant part of our day-to-day experience.
It’s important when we feel like this to mentally take a step (or two!) backwards. Zoom out a bit. Yes, you may have a demanding or adverse situation coming up, or even facing you right now, but there’s usually a lot more going on than just that.
What else is making up your current experience? It could be as simple as the fact that the sun is shining, or that your mum is happy. Whatever is going on right now, however many stress-inducing factors you have to deal with, there’s always going to be something else happening. It is never the only part of your life (unless you let it be!)
Take time to focus on things that aren’t stress-inducing.
So try to broaden your perspective a bit. Take time to focus on things that aren’t stress-inducing. Spend time with your friends, sing, take photographs, play sports, or go on an adventure. Whatever you usually enjoy doing, take time for that and realise that this is just as important to focus on as whatever you’re facing that is causing you stress.
Also, it becomes so much easier to gain a healthier and broader perspective of our current experience when we remember who we are.
Take a moment to remember who you are.
Let’s say it’s exam results that are causing us stress. Take a moment to remember who you are. Are you a number on a results slip? Are you a college, a university, or a measure of academic success? No way! Maybe that’s a part of your identity, but it’s definitely not all that you are. Remember what else makes up who you are.
I’m a Christian, and I believe that first and foremost your identity is a child of God. You’re a part of something so much bigger than any exam result, any university place, or any academic success. And your purpose is so much higher than that.
The Bible tells us that each one of us is part of the ‘body of Christ’ which is Bible-talk for saying that you have a purpose way bigger than anything that could cause you stress. It means that we’re here to love each other and to act with kindness and mercy (even towards ourselves!!)
This really helps us to put our stresses into perspective. If we’re here to show love, kindness, mercy and compassion, then surely that’s a much greater and more important part of who we are than whatever demanding or adverse circumstances we’re facing right now.
We’ll get through this time, and we’ll come out the other side with the ability and tools to help other people who are facing something similar.
When we remember that, then we realise that there’s much more to us and to our lives than what we’re currently facing. We’ll get through this time, and we’ll come out the other side with the ability and tools to help other people who are facing something similar.
