Today's Healthy Habit Meeting Recap - Dealing With Stress

At our last Healthy Habit meeting we talked about stress. 

Stress

Stress can effect every area of our lives. Physical, emotional, mental, our relationships, etc. Stress is a known factor in obesity and many health issues.

Stress can save us in a life and death situation but it can also kill us in the everyday.

I found this article Stress Symptoms, Signs and Causes and the information was eye opening to me.

From the above article.
"The body doesn’t distinguish between physical and psychological threats. When you’re stressed over a busy schedule, an argument with a friend, a traffic jam, or a mountain of bills, your body reacts just as strongly as if you were facing a life-or-death situation. If you have a lot of responsibilities and worries, your emergency stress response may be “on” most of the time. The more your body’s stress system is activated, the harder it is to shut off."

We all agreed that we need to deal with the stress in our lives. But how?

Trina shared some info from a Jennie Craig book about stress. The book listed three suggestions for dealing with stress. 


1. Learn to recognize where your stress comes from. (This is probably harder to do than it sounds)

If you can pinpoint sources of stress that's the first step in dealing with it. You need to figure out if the situation causing the stress is something you can control or manage. 

For a lot of women life is so busy it's hard to take time for ourselves. Especially Christian women have this idea that we have to do everything for everyone and if we say NO it's a refection on our faith! We need to remember that even Jesus took time out of His busy schedule to be alone, to rest and to pray. We need to be more like Jesus!

My husband has a saying that I think is a good guideline when dealing with some of the people who demand our time.

 "Lack of planning on your part should not cause extra work on my part."

2. Realize that you are responsible for your reaction to the stressful situation.

How do you react to stressful situations?

Angry or agitated? The best thing to do is walk away. Put some distance between you and the person causing your stress. 

Do you withdraw or get blue? Walk! Get active!

Do you freeze up? Can't make a decision or get your thoughts straight? Walk! Do something!

I don't want to minimize the situation but walking or doing something active is a great way to relieve stress. 

3. Take action.

Pray - I think it was Elizabeth George who said she never commits to something until she prays about it first. 

Never say yes right away unless it's a real emergency. (Think blood and broken bones type of emergency)

If certain people are putting demands on you and you really feel bad saying NO then help that person to brainstorm ways they can solve their problem without you. Encourage them to get creative.

Come to the realization that you cannot rescue everyone from their poor decisions.

Clear your calendar of any unnecessary activities.

Put yourself on the calendar - remember you're time is just as important as anyone else.

Ask for advice - from your husband or good friend on how to handle situations.

That's just a little recap of our meeting. 

Next meeting we're going to talk more about prayer and how we can better incorporate it in our lives. 


How do you handle stress? 

Or do you?


Patti