Yes, we all experience stress, but some of us know how to manage it better than others. Despite widespread awareness of stress management tools, feeling overwhelmed and stressed is more common than ever.
Why is that?
The reasons are familiar to many of us:
- Pace of Life: Whether too fast or too slow, it often doesn’t match our daily needs. The accelerated pace of life, with its demands from work, personal responsibilities, and social commitments, frequently exceeds our time and energy, leaving us feeling perpetually behind.
- Work-Life Balance Challenges: The blurring boundaries between work and personal life, especially with remote working, make it challenging to establish clear boundaries and dedicate time to relaxation and self-care.
- Economic Uncertainties: Financial instability increases our uncertainty about the future, compounding daily stressors and making us feel more overwhelmed.
- Digital Overload: The constant stream of information from digital devices and social media leads to information overload, making it hard to disconnect and relax.
While there are other important factors, including social and family matters and personal expectations, this post aims to focus on solutions, not problems.
Then, What Can We Do?
The answer is simple: learn to manage our stress.
This doesn’t come naturally to most of us because we haven’t been trained to address our emotional and cognitive difficulties effectively and healthily. Yes, we know about exercising, eating healthily, connecting with nature, and talking to friends. These are important and help us deal with stressors but offer only temporary relief.
To address the root of the problem and learn to solve it, we need to connect with what’s going on inside us—how we think and feel about situations, which often triggers physical reactions like headaches, shoulder pain, lower back pain, or impairing our ability to enjoy a good night’s sleep. This, of course, has further consequences.
Consider this analogy:
If you struggled with math in school because it didn’t interest you, you might have resorted to temporary solutions, like getting help with homework. But the real, lasting solution was to learn to solve the problems yourself, requiring time, attention, and effort.
Stress Management Is Similar:
“Remember, We Can Always Learn.”
Stress occurs when we perceive a threat or challenge and feel we don’t have the resources to cope. However, when we believe we can successfully manage the situation, our stress levels become motivating (eustress) rather than overwhelming (distress).
How Can You Learn to Attend to Your Emotions and Mind?
The practice of Mindfulness is medicine for the mind and an ointment for the heart. It involves being present, acknowledging and accepting your thoughts and feelings without judgment, enhancing emotional regulation, and reducing stress. This change in relationship with your thoughts and emotions transforms them from hindrances into advisors.
*Spoiler alert*
The skillfulness with which we use this information depends on our abilities to address the issue at hand. This means that developing mindfulness is just the beginning because it lets you see what is there, but it does not necessarily mean you know what to do with it. This will require the development of relevant skills.
However, noticing and acknowledging without being overly reactive significantly reduces stress because it helps you focus your mind on ‘what and how I can do better’ and away from ‘why it happened.’
Now, Taking Care of My Wellbeing and Supporting Yours
As a mindfulness practitioner, teacher, and researcher, I’ve witnessed firsthand how this technique can transform lives (including mine), enriching them in ways that are healthier and more fulfilling. This passion led me to create a unique mindfulness program, blending insights from Neuroscience, Psychology, and Mindfulness, designed to help others transform their relationship with stress.
This program isn’t just about recognizing stressors; it’s about equipping you with skills to manage them effectively. If you’re curious and ready to take charge of your wellbeing, I warmly invite you to register for our program.
8-Week Mindfulness Program: The Art of Being Present
If you have any questions or would like to share your thoughts, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re here to help and engage in meaningful conversations.
I hope you found this article insightful and empowering. Here’s to taking steps towards a more mindful and tranquil life.
