May 14, 2023
Alexandra Kinias

Today’s life is a magnet for stress. Demanding jobs, chaotic traffic, noisy environment, provocative people and frustrating situations, all contribute to elevating our stress level.

For many of us stress has become such a chronic manifestation of our over stimulating lifestyle that we no longer notice how stressed we are. That affects our mood, relationships, social life and professional performance. Living a stressful life can become harmful to our wellbeing in general and our mental health in particular.

Life will never be stress free; however, we can take the lead to de-stress it with the help of these following tips. 

1- Identify the reason behind your stress: While life keeps throwing hurdles in our way, it is unfair, though, only to blame others for our stress.  No doubt that circumstances beyond our control challenge us on daily basis, but we are also guilty in creating stressful situations for ourselves. Just think how many times our behavior, attitude, action or reaction put us in a situation that angered us and left us feeling stressed out. Once we realize we are a contributor to our stress, we should take actions to avoid that.

2- Remember everybody is fighting a battle: If we truly understand and accept that we are not alone in the world and others are struggling with stressful issues too, we will become more patient and compassionate with people around us. Kindness and respect are always appreciated by others, and reciprocated. And by taking the initiative to treat people with dignity and kindness, we are eliminating unnecessary stressful situations for ourselves as well. 

3- Learn to walk away from stressful situations: Think of how many situations can be deflated by just walking away from them. And while we can’t control how people behave towards us, we can choose how to react to their behaviors. Let’s get our ego out of the way and move on. Often, walking away from a stressful situation is a victory not a defeat. Clouding our thoughts with stress can have more negative effects on us than giving up the last word in an argument. Let go.

4- Don’t try to change people: We shouldn’t be tempted to join every battle we are invited to. Rather than challenging others, accept and respect their differences. And instead of trying to change or control them, which can create a very stressful environment to everybody, especially us, let us focus on changing ourselves to become more tolerant of them. 

 5- Don’t take things personal: If we have no horse in the race, let’s stay away from the tracks. In other words, it is not our business what takes place in the lives of others. Note that we are not responsible, at any given moment, for the behaviors, believes or actions of others, and thus, let them deal with their own problems. It is important to be compassionate about people’s troubles, but equally important is not to burden ourselves with them.

Unfortunately, in today’s life, feeling stressed is inevitable, but how we deal with it is what makes the difference. By assessing the situation in a positive way, breathing deeply, thinking rationally and understanding that we can always change the outcome to our favor, we can play a major role in reducing the daily doses of stress we may encounter.