The breaking point of stress is exactly what it says. It's the point at which you break during stress. Some people react differently when they reach this breaking point. When some people reach the breaking point they shut down and will just avoid the stressors in their life. Some people have been holding things inside themselves and stuffing emotions away until they break and explode into rage, anger, and sadness. Other people turn to sources of stimulation such as alcohol and this can lead to addiction.
If you are one of the lucky few, maybe you handle stress perfectly and don't need to read this but if you are with the rest of us you probably need to read this post.
How Do You Prevent Yourself From Getting to Your Breaking Point?
Understanding the Breaking Point: Acute vs. Chronic Stress
The breaking point of stress will occur when you don't properly manage stress. The process that occurs is that you build up chronic stress to the point where you can't handle it anymore. Have you ever seen someone snap and completely blow their top off because they dropped their phone and the battery fell out? You noticed that their reaction is much greater than the situation called for. This reaction occurred for a reason and the reason was that stress had been building in that person's life for a long time and they blew up due to a small stressor that revealed all the stress that person had been feeling.
Acute stressors are little stressors we experience every day that are unavoidable. These are stressors that release hormones to help you deal with the situation at hand. When a situation is presented that makes you feel out of control you will experience an acute stress reaction. Acute stress reactions are the little annoying things you have to take care of in the day that cause some discomfort. Examples of this could be spilling coffee, dogs getting out of the yard, large work presentations, or a big disagreement with someone. These reactions can be good because they release hormones that help you deal with the situation. When they become bad is when there are enough of them that cause a buildup of stress (chronic stress). Buildup will occur if the acute stressors aren't managed properly.
Be Aware of Cognitive Overload
Cognitive (mind) overload is the process where you have too many things flying at you for you to be able to balance. You are pushed out of balance and have to put in extra mental work to get everything done. Cognitive overload is the point at which your mind tells you it is time to stop. Cognitive overload can manifest itself through headaches, negative self-talk (thoughts that bind you by creating a negative perception of yourself) or even sickness for some people. Cognitive overload also causes lack of sleep which causes an even greater physical imbalance in your life.
It is easier now than ever to get overloaded. When you are overloaded it can be very hard and mentally taxing to get anything done. Today, we have technology that allows for instant communication. This also means instant distraction. Many people struggle to get things done because they have texts, emails, and reminders on their phones flying at them the whole day. Have you ever wanted to get something done but got so distracted with your phone that it set you back a few hours and increased your stress? This is a common acute stressor that builds up stress. What are some other acute stressors?
Common Acute Stressors
- Worries about what other people think about you
- Feelings that your kids aren't happy
- Feelings of inadequacy about your physical appearance
- Job Stress
- Feelings that you don't spend enough time with your family or friends
- Lack of Health
- Feelings that you should be doing something else or that you can do more
- Lack of Money
- Feelings that everything needs to be perfect
Now that we know some causes of stress, what are some indicators that you are stressed out?
What are You Doing to Worsen Your Stress?
- Do you multitask ALL the time?
- Do you "go-go-go" until you are dead exhausted?
- Are you constantly worrying about something?
- Do you laugh a lot during the day or are you mostly serious?
- Are you constantly feeling pressure?
- Are you constantly in a rush?
- Do you forget a lot of simple things because your mind is so preoccupied?
- Do you have a hard time starting something and when you do start it, you go for hours without a break and even forget to eat?
- Are your days way overcrowded with a ridiculous amount of things to do?
- Do you find yourself turning to one particular thing to cope with your crazy days like eating tons of food or watching hours of television to get yourself away from your work as long as you can?
If you answered yes to any of these things, you need some tools to help you manage your stress.
Your 2 Weapons against Stress
#1 How You React to Stress
There are some things you don't have control over. You don't have control over bumping into your coffee and spilling it on yourself. It is also very hard to be able to laugh something like that off. If you can laugh it off, humor is a great tool against stress. If you can't use humor to react to stress, you can begin to think of stress in a different way. Stress is a great tool to help you get the things done that need to be done. If you let it build up, you will react badly to stress and won't think of stress as an ally. The first way you need to react to stress is to be aware of stress. Be aware if you are feeling pressure, also be aware of if you are letting something linger in your mind that doesn't need to be there.
Make time for yourself to stress out. Yes, I said it. Set aside a half hour of your day to stress out about everything you might need to get done during the day. Often, stress comes because we forget about something and have to cram it last second. If you set aside time during the day to write out everything you need to do, you will have a mental map of both what you need to get done and what the possible stressors of the day will be. Once you know this, you can tell yourself that you already did all the worrying about that particular event. If you have any control to do that item at the current moment, then you can get it done but if you have no control you can let it go from your mind and let it reappear the next day when you worry and stress for 30 minutes.
#2 Balance
Balance is your 2nd weapon against stress. The term "feeling centered" is of great importance. When you feel centered you feel calm, confident, and in control. You will be at a point of contentment both physically, and mentally where you have enough energy to accomplish what you wanted to do. This is harder now more than ever because society pushes us to be stimulated. Stimulants and distractors cause lack of focus and lack of contentment which is the opposite of feeling centered. Stimulants and distractors make it harder to add balance in your life. How can you be mentally engaged towards your work when you are getting distracted constantly? These distractions can get to the point where they greatly interfere in work production until the point where all the work needs to get done in a short period of time. This causes stress. Some of the greatest minds in the world put their phones away completely when they are doing something important.
When you have balance in your life, you are satisfied spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally. If one of these areas is thrown for a loop then you must put that thing back into your life again. When you family life is lacking because of too much work, take some time for your family or your work life could even worsen. If you don't feel any purpose in your life, maybe it is time to do some spiritual work. If you are emotionally distraught, maybe you need to seek help or find out what is causing emotional distress. The key to stress is to find balance and it is much easier said than done.
In conclusion, how you react to stress will make or break your stress experience. If you make time to stress out about things you will find out what areas are lacking in your life and you can work on those areas to find balance. Identify your common stressors, and behaviors that are adding stress to your life and you will be able to gain control of your life again. Good luck and let me know how it goes!
If you liked this article view another one on "Seeing Things as They Really Are"
Source : articlesbase.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment