Distress or De-Stress

In the 21st century, stress has become synonymous with life. It is part and parcel of the very essence of living today. Stress is associated with almost every aspect of our lives, personal and professional alike.

Volumes have been spoken and written on stress, so we probably know what it is. The key question, however, is how do we take the knowledge and translate it to a set of tools to help cope with the stress of every day living?

In other words, how do we convert what we know into what we do? That is the dilemma we struggle with daily!

The first step is to become conscious of stress and understand it. Stress has its own language - and it appears in the way we talk, how we feel, through our attitudes, responses, tone of voice, and body language. Stress speaks through us all the time. There is also a natural stress that can have good influence upon our assemblies. It can cause us to have healthy struggles and therefore, tap into natural resources, but only up to a point. Beyond a certain point stress becomes destructive and depletes natural resources.

We need to understand what causes stress so we can learn how to deal with it effectively, and how to neutralize its destructive affect upon our lives and natural genius. Make no mistake about it - stress prevents us from coming into contact with our natural intelligence, which directly affects our productivity, will, stamina, and ultimately our accomplishments.

The causes of stress

The first major cause of stress is the way and style we earn our livings in the 21st century. The variety of tasks and responsibilities we handle is staggering when compared to even 10 years ago. The technological revolution places an ever-increasing demand upon both our intellectual and emotional structures. That means we have to cope with more and more, faster and faster, and therein is the problem.

The second major cause of stress lies in the dynamics of interpersonal dealings. This is where we find ourselves misunderstood by others or others misunderstood by us, unable to communicate in an effective and orderly manner. The vast majority of conflicts today are caused by miscommunication.

The third major cause of stress is our internal processes. This refers to our attitudes, behavior, thinking patterns, and perceptions in relation to circumstances we encounter. Reacting personally and emotionally can often lead to a great deal of internal stress and unless a useful and youthful response mechanism is adopted, you will find yourself depleted of vital energies and unable to perform at a high level of productivity.

Symptoms of Stress

Some of the primary symptoms of uncontrolled stress are:

Anger Dispersion Disorganization

Emotional outbursts Headaches Heat

Impatience Indecision Irritation

Low self-esteem Sweaty palms Worry

There are more symptoms of course!

When you look at the symptoms you realize immediately that stress affects productivity in a negative way. All of the abovementioned symptoms would rob you of your energies and natural connection to your talents.

Taking Control

Taking control of a situation is not always possible when dealing with outside pressures. Where it is possible, is in learning how to deal with it internally - to discover a way that prevents you from getting emotionally personal, allowing you to function in a cool, calm, and calculated manner.

You know it is possible - you have seen those people, haven't you?

When you take control of yourself you begin to manage your own life instead of letting life manage you.

Remedies

In learning to handle stress there are short and long-term remedies. Nonetheless there are basic steps that need to be taken.

1. Understand what stress is and what causes it.

2. "Know thyself" - admit to how stress affects you.

3. Acquire the necessary knowledge and learn how to apply it in your daily life.

4. Create a long-term strategy that allows you to come into contact with, and absorb the qualities that will make you less personally involved, more functional in your duties, and more energized in your daily interactions with other people.

Belief

It is critically important to understand the battle with stress is ongoing and needs both short term and long-term remedies.

The short-term remedies are to learn and use simple stress-relieving techniques such as deep breathing, taking 5 minute mental 'vacations', and doing some simple stretching exercises.

The long-term remedy has to do with personal development and acquiring some new qualities.

One of the most important new qualities you can absorb is that of BELIEF. Hans Selye, the pioneer of understanding human stress, said: "the most stressful condition that a person can face is not having something to believe in." When you believe in something, you have hope, and when you have hope, you can draw upon your natural genius and the situation doesn't look or feel so bad.

The belief system is crucial in combating stress in the long-term and it's best directed at your personal abilities, skills and talents. Belief can be channeled in different directions - career, the company, the system, and of course, divine influences. However, the best direction is to believe in your-self, to believe you can improve and change and become much, much better. This is where belief is most effective in combating stress.

Final word about the seminar

This seminar will provide the basics in each of the aforementioned steps to help you become remedial upon your stressful circumstances in the organization and in your personal life. Results always come with application and repetition - the more you do it, the easier it gets.

There are many tools available to help you identify and measure the amount of stress in your life and how you deal with it. This seminar will use a self-assessment questionnaire to help identify how prone you are to stress; a personal evaluation questionnaire designed to identify how you view stressors in your life, and finally, the bar of emotional/rational responses and productivity chart where you assess the way you deal with stressful situations.