Stress is a necessary part of life. Stress, in a positive form, lets you know that you are challenging your own limits, like when you strain to lift 10 more pounds or push yourself to finish a project before the deadline. Stress, in a negative form, wears down your physical and emotional systems. So stress management strategies are sought after by everyone.
Stress management anxiety reduction is used by most people mainly to relieve the physical symptoms of anxiety attacks. Because these physical symptoms will only distract you from, and weaken you in, battling the stressor that is causing the anxiety. And it is only by eliminating the stressor that you can finally end the headaches, feeling of nervousness, and constant chest tightness from anxiety that is so harmful to you.
Let’s look at ten tips for stress management:
1. Define the problem causing the stress. Make your definition concrete, so that even another person would be able to recognize it.
2. Use creative problem solving to think of as many ways to attack it as possible. The bad health effects of stress are due mainly to your body’s “fight or flight” reaction to stress.
3. Select the most practical plans under the circumstances. Finding the magic wand is a solution – just not a practical one.
4. Develop specific goals to achieve under your plan.
5. Develop specific steps to achieve each goal.
6. Place a definite time limit on each step, by either allocating a specific amount of time to it or a deadline it must be achieved by.
7. Eliminate all other non-priority tasks and interruptions.
8. Take a few deep breathes, to focus and re-center yourself.
9. Take one concrete specific action toward step 1 of your first goal.
10. Assess the results.
These 10 tips sound pretty common-sense. But the key is to do them under stress. Anyone can breath deeply or identify the stressor or even come up with a plan to attack the stressor. Some systems calling themselves stress management strategies are built around one or two of these. But these ten tips for stress management, all performed by you under stress, are your ticket to comprehensive stress management anxiety reduction.
There are, of course, other ways to reduce the physical symptoms of anxiety attacks and you should talk to your doctor about these. Medications or therapies may be necessary for some people. You also cannot discount the fact that your constant chest tightness from anxiety might also be a heart attack! So consult with your doctor before and during any stress or anxiety situation.
RICK CARTER is the author of this article. As a trial attorney for over 15 years, he's had to do a lot of stress management: the stress of dealing with clients, stress of explaining clients' positions to opposing counsel, stress of advocating a legal issue in courtrooms and government agencies around the world. And that means handling a lot of stress effectively and quickly. And as a martial arts student for over 25 years, he's faced a different kind of stress in sparring, fighting, and perfecting. The result of this experience is STRESS JUDO: Black Belt Stress Management (http://stressjudo.blinkweb.com). For more information on this exclusive system (and how you can have a wallful of belts showing your expertise), click stress management (http://stressjudo.blinkweb.com/beltsystem.html).