Picture this………………..
Dwayne Johnson, the essence of the modern action hero, is face to face with a grizzly bear. But this is no movie set, and there are no special effects to help him out. Just Dwayne and the bear.
Do you think Dwayne is stressed?
Before mankind lived in a modernised civilisation, there were many threats to face, just to live through the day. These could include, running into a wild bear, or being at the mercy of the jaws of a tiger. If we happened to come across one of these threats, we would have two choices. Either run away (probably the right choice) or fight it off. This is better known as the fight or flight response.
When our body perceives something as a threat, whether the challenge be a physical or a psychological barrier, it responds with stress. Back in the times of the neanderthal, if a man was confronted with a sabre tooth tiger this response was very helpful. It helped him to survive, and although now, we are rarely faced with the danger of encountering a wild animal, different stresses are our constant reality.
The world around us is rapidly changing, faster than we can adapt. This can lead to many undesirable issues which many of us don’t have the skills to properly deal with.
We probably have never faced a situation where we have been within 5 minutes of
potential death.
Our body’s adrenal system is part of our defence mechanism, producing hormones to enable our bodies to cope. Our bodies and our adrenal system need time to recalibrate, so if our adrenal system has not yet been calibrated properly, a miscalibrated system can cause our systems to unconsciously think that anything that gives us stress in life, is threatening.
What happens is that our adrenal system produces the hormones adrenaline and cortisol, which is good if we are physically going to fight something, but if not, too much cortisol over a long period of time can have detrimental effects.
When your stress response is fired constantly, it can lead to many health related issues.
You could look at a bill and think, ‘man, this is going to kill me,’ or be doing a difficult assignment and say, ‘this is gonna be the end of me.’ Although, in reality, it isn’t actually going to kill you.
The thing about excessive stress in our modern frantic society, is that it doesn’t lead to anything helpful. Yes, a bit of stress can be helpful to get things done, although, when we are excessively stressing over small things, such as, “what we are going to wear?” or the things that are out of our control, like “as to whether our house is going to sell”, it becomes more detrimental than anything.
According to Healthline.com, frequent stress can cause an increased risk of stroke, heart attack and developing type 2 diabetes. As well as increased blood pressure, stomach ache, tight muscles, headaches, shoulder pain and an overall decrease in the immune system.
There are many different things that we can do to help decrease the stress in our lives.
Here are some practical tools to help us start on the road to stress management.
Practice meditation
Meditation is proven to help ease anxiety and allow us to be more resilient to stress.
Take care of your body
Taking care of ourselves, whether it is exercising, eating well, getting enough sleep or taking time out to relax, has huge benefits. Our bodies won’t be able to function properly if we aren’t eating well or getting enough sleep. Taking care of ourselves should be our number 1 priority.
Journal
Journaling is a great way to write out all the things that are cluttered in our heads so we can be more productive at tackling the stressors in our lives.
Spend time with friends and family
Have fun! Hanging out with friends and family can help us get our mind off the stress in our lives and be more at ease.
Learn to say no
Learning to say no to certain things, can be a difficult task for some people, although if we don’t, we can become easily overwhelmed by things of this world.
Avoid Procrastination
Sometimes our stress is due to procrastination, we continually put things off until it is the day before and we try to cram everything we have to do in that short amount of time. Learning to make a plan and stick to it can help to avoid procrastination and decrease stress.
Let go of the things you can’t control
Some stress is caused by things we can’t control. Learning to let go and trust the timing of life can be hard, although it helps us to focus on what really matters, allowing us to have peace of mind.
Stress is a growing problem in our modern, frantic world and has become more harmful than not. Knowing how to deal with stress in our lives can help us to propel forward in a new level of confidence.
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Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’
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