Stress Management Counseling

• Notice your distress. Don't ignore it. Don't gloss over your problems.
• Determine what events distress you. What are you telling yourself about meaning of these events?
• Determine how your body responds to the stress. Do you become nervous or physically upset? If so, in what specific ways?

• Can you change your stressors by avoiding or eliminating them completely?
• Can you reduce their intensity (manage them over a period of time instead of on a daily or weekly basis)?
• Can you shorten your exposure to stress (take a break, leave the physical premises)?
• Can you devote the time and energy necessary to making a change (goal setting, time management techniques, and delayed gratification strategies may be helpful here)?

• The stress reaction is triggered by your perception of danger...physical danger and/or emotional danger. Are you viewing your stressors in exaggerated terms and/or taking a difficult situation and making it a disaster?
• Are you expecting to please everyone?
• Are you overreacting and viewing things as absolutely critical and urgent?
• Do you feel you must always prevail in every situation?
• Work at adopting more moderate views; try to see the stress as something you can cope with rather than something that overpowers you.
• Try to temper your excess emotions. Put the situation in perspective. Do not labor on the negative aspects and the "what if's."

• Slow, deep breathing will bring your heart rate and respiration back to normal.
• Relaxation techniques can reduce muscle tension. Electronic biofeedback can help you gain voluntary control over such things as muscle tension, heart rate, and blood pressure.
• Medications, when prescribed by a physician, can help in the short term in moderating your physical reactions. However, they alone are not the answer. Learning to moderate these reactions on your own is a preferable long-term solution.

• Exercise for cardiovascular fitness three to four times a week (moderate, prolonged rhythmic exercise is best, such as walking, swimming, cycling, or jogging).
• Eat well-balanced, nutritious meals.
• Maintain your ideal weight.
• Avoid nicotine, excessive caffeine, and other stimulants.
• Mix leisure with work. Take breaks and get away when you can.
• Get enough sleep. Be as consistent with your sleep schedule as possible.

• Develop some mutually supportive friendships/relationships.
• Pursue realistic goals, which are meaningful to you, rather than goals others have for you that you do not share.
• Expect some frustrations, failures, and sorrows.
• Always be kind and gentle with yourself -- be a friend to yourself.

Let's talk. Schedule your free evaluation.