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Stress is unavoidable, it’s as much of a fact of life as dentist appointments and traffic. In fact, some have jokingly suggested that the key to managing stress is deodorant – since you’ll never be able to eliminate it.
The secret sauce to success is learning how to manage stress and reduce panic.
The physical symptoms of stress are often harder to manage, and take longer to control, than the emotional ones. These symptoms can include an increase in adrenaline that causes increased heart and breathing rates. While annoying when it hijacks your nervous symptoms, these hormones are nature’s way of preparing you to face danger and increase your coping abilities.
Looking to improve your stress management skills? Learn from these pros:
First Time Parents vs. Parents of Multiples: First time parents are a great example of stress run amok. Every move or sound the baby makes incites panic in a new parent until someone intervenes to help calm the situation. By the third child, parents have learned to differentiate between sounds that require an immediate response and those that are simply a part of newborn life.
Emergency workers, Doctors, and First Responders: Few people experience more stressful situations than those who have signed up to respond to emergencies. Out of neccessity, they’ve developed the ability to understand what is causing the stress and the skills to manage it quickly and effectively. The calm they show in situations is the result of understanding, training, preparation and experience.
Restaurant workers: My time spent working in restaurants provided an invaluable lesson in stress management. You experience bursts of work, are expected to deliver perfect meals, and complete the tasks in short periods. I learned that planning, strategic menus that aren’t cluttered with a dozens of options, and protocol for managing the rush periods effectively were the keys to success.
We underestimate the impact of stress because so many of us have found ways to cope. Remote work, virtual school, package delivery, communicating with friends via Zoom, and/or finding other creative ways to connect have really mitigated the underlying tension.
Understanding stress is the first step in managing it.
All of us have experienced some form of drastic change in our lives at some point. Our individual situations vary, but we’re all affected in one way or another:
- Stress can take shape in many ways. It might cause sadness, confusion, irritability, anger, uneasiness, or suicidal thoughts. Other stress symptoms include reduced concentration, efficiency, or productivity, social withdrawal and isolation, interpersonal problems (lying, defensiveness, inability to communicate, or increased arguing), tension (headaches, jaw clenching, teeth grinding), body pain (muscle spasms, stomach cramps, ulcers), reduced energy (tiredness, weakness, fatigue), and sleeping problems (insomnia, nightmares, sleeping too much).
- Stress also has many varieties. You can experience pervasive stress as result of circumstances like pressure, financial, or medical concerns. Or you can experience periodic stress in activities like unknown experiences, rushes, and emergencies.
- Acts that once gave comfort and encouragement (hugs, high-fives, handshakes) are now off limits. It’s not just disconcerting; it very possibly adding to America’s stress levels. As social creatures, we crave human connection and when we are unable to find solace in a hug or vent at the water cooler with friends, it takes a toll on us mentally.
Stress, anxiety, and uncertainty will certainly remain a part of our present and future, but they have also been a part of our past and we’ve always overcome.
Here are some suggestions to help you stay calm and fend off stress proactively and productively:
- Remember that everyone is struggling and be open-minded, patient, and sharing. Assess and understand the stress, consider alternatives, new paradigms, and slower progress. For example, learn to be happy and accept small wins.
- Don’t let pride get in your way. Asking for help, sharing stress, and using available resources are excellent ways to cope.
- Be kind and helpful to loved ones and strangers alike.
- Keep things in perspective. (i.e. Shopping may be a bit cumbersome these days but remember that everyone is trying their best and it’s not the clerk’s fault the toilet paper shelf is empty.) Be patient (with yourself and others). We’re all going through a lot—cut yourself some slack and show others the same curtesy. Take deep breaths.
- Take care of yourself (eat healthy meals, exercise, get some fresh air, meditate, try to keep to a regular sleep schedule). For example, efforts like lunch with colleagues, coffee breaks, and social interaction have reduced in frequency.
- Open debate, discussion, and even productive arguing have declined as well. While there is much discussion of hate on the internet, there is no discussion of norms among many people that limit opinions, debate, and controversy.
The more you work on your stress management, the more you’ll notice a pattern. We all have a threshold of tolerance, but many of us miss the signs our bodies give us. We ignore (or spot fix) things like tension headaches, chronic pain, and sleep disturbances. Connecting with others, talking about how we’re feeling, finding a healthy physical release (walking, dancing), and helping people have proven time and again to decrease stress and improve mental health.
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