Let’s talk about stress. This is something we all experience, but is different for each of us. What is stressful to your closest friend may not even bother you at all and vice versa. There are, of course, life experiences that are stressful for everyone, but each person has their unique way of managing them. I love the way health coaching approaches something like stress. We’d work on ways to manage your stress such as mindfulness techniques, but we’d also look at what you identify as your biggest stressors and work on each one to find ways to change the activity or your response to the activity that is making you pull out your hair. Sometimes it is clear to people exactly what is making them anxious or unsettled, and sometimes we need to dig a little deeper to figure things out.
Here is an example…
you have been really stressed lately at work and your co-worker is driving you crazy. Sounds simple enough…you just have an annoying co-worker, right? Well if we do a bit deeper dive we can find other things leading up to that interaction that compounded are making that interaction more challenging. Maybe you are up late at night and tend to run late in the morning and are always rushing in. For breakfast you eat a pastry from the coffee shop in your car while driving and your car is a mess and makes you feel grumpy driving in it, but you never have time to clean it. If we break down your morning, we can see that there are all kinds of little habits we could work on to make your morning meet up with that annoying co-worker a bit less troublesome.
Taking the time to step back and look at the stressors in your life can be life-changing and might give some insight into how everything matters.
We might start with establishing habits to get more sleep, find ways to give yourself more time in the morning for a nourishing breakfast and helping you figure out a time to clean that messy car that makes you grumpy. Once we have worked on these positive habits, you enter your office rested, feeling calm and with balanced blood sugar. Combine that with a little centering or mindful breaths before you walk into work, now you are ready to take on the day, and that co-worker doesn’t get under your skin quite the way he/she used to. Taking the time to step back and look at the stressors in your life can be life-changing and might give some insight into how everything matters. The causes of stress are unique to each individual. Take time to pause and evaluate what gets your blood pressure boiling.
