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The 5 Worst Ways To Deal With Stress

The 5 Worst Ways To Deal With Stress
Carly Jacobs
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’ve never really been much of a stress head but as I’m getting older, I’m finding it more difficult to get through the day with my sunny disposition in tact. Regular readers here will know that I think a positive attitude is the best accessory a person can have but sometimes life gets so overwhelming and you’ll try any quick fix you stumble across. There are a few ‘stress busters’ I’ve tried in the past that just haven’t worked for me and I suspect they won’t work out for plenty of other people too. Here are the 5 worst ways to deal with stress.

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Engaging in stress busting activities that don’t suit you 

If you publicly declare that you’re stressed someone, somewhere will suggest a nice 90 minute yoga session followed by a 1 hour long guided meditation. This may work for some people, but for me spending 2 and half hours doing anything that’s not one of the things that’s making me stressed, is going to make me even more stressed. When I’m at breaking point, I smash a 20 minute jog on the treadmill.

Spending time with high-maintenance friends

Most friendships are uneven and there’s usually one of us that is less maintenance than the other. This can certainly change as friendships develop but there’s usually one friend that requires more of the other friend at any given time. If you’re the low-maintenance friend, avoid your friends that bring their emotional baggage to the table every time you catch up. It doesn’t have to be forever but if you’re stressed out, you don’t need to be dealing with other people’s stress on top of it.

Barreling through and pretending like it’s not happening

Don’t just keep going about your business, pretending like nothing is happening. I am the MASTER at this and it always ends with me lying on my couch for a full 24 hours, in a comatose state trying to figure out how three months passed without me noticing. Acknowledge it, and start working on it immediately.

Making major lifestyle changes

I believe that effective work life balance, healthy eating and a good fitness routine can be excellent for minimising stress. However when you’re up to your eyeballs in work, your house is a mess and you haven’t eaten anything green for a week, it’s not really the time to start a grain-free eating plan or training for a marathon. By all means make some healthy changes but don’t try juice cleansing in the middle of the busiest part of your year.

Self-medicating 

Just don’t. It can be so tempting to slam a few bevvies at the end of a tough day but it will only make you feel worse. Early nights and healthy dinners will help you much more than four pints of lager and a dirty pub burger.

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Are you a touch stressed out at the moment? How do you deal when you’re stressed out?

 

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16 Comments

  1. Author
    Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

    Oh totally! Sometimes Mr Smaggle ‘puts me to bed’. He’ll just turn off the TV or take away my computer and just tuck me into bed. It’s the best. I had a mad sleep last light, it was so good!

  2. Author
    Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

    Brilliant!

  3. Alix 8 years ago

    I have learned the hard way that smashing a six pack of hot cross buns or crumpets does not, in fact, make me feel better or fix anything. Who knew?

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 8 years ago

      How disappointing is it to realise that sugar is never the solution? Makes me so angry! Damn Tim Tams – why you not be better at rising the things?

  4. Stress sucks but often times you become so used to living in a stressed state that you don’t even know you are stressed until something pushes you over the cliff. Chocolate is my particular choice of self medication it doesn’t work but at least I don’t wake up with a hangover …

    • Mystery Case 8 years ago

      YES! Completely agree. It can actually be unnerving when the stress isn’t there. It’s chocolate for me too.

      • The reality for me is that I have been living in a stressed state for so long that my body doesn’t know what it is like to not be stressed (and my brain for that matter) it is incredibly hard work trying to untangle a brain that has been in a stressed state for so long. I truly wish it was as easy as slowing down and doing some yoga. (Carly, I am not dismissing you at all and I know that in truth this isn’t really aimed at someone in my state. xoxo)

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 8 years ago

      Oh course not love that’s exactly what I said – yoga is not the solution for most people. I’m the same actually – I’m very busy and I say yes to way too many things. I haven’t been bored or satisfied since I was a kid. What are we to do with ourselves?

  5. Megan Williams 8 years ago

    Are we the same person? Especially regarding yoga…

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 8 years ago

      Ugh! I’ve tried SO HARD with yoga but I just find it so frustrating and boring. Can’t hack it. I also have very little time to exercise and to spend an hour breathing and stretching just feels like a waste to me. I also don’t enjoy it. At all. No yoga for me.

  6. chrisatpb 8 years ago

    I agree realising you are stressed and acknowledging it goes a long way to getting on the path to stress reduction. Without wanting to sound glib or create any feelings of “first world” guilt, I think it also helps to try and put things into perspective. Yes, we are busy, yes we might have a difficult job, relationship, family life – but if we lived in some parts of the world we could be stressed about getting shot or blown up if we go down the street to buy bread, or even stressed that there is no bread to buy, or perhaps money to buy it. xx

    • I agree with putting things into perspective. Of course we have it better when we compare our situations to anyone really it doesn’t need to be a war torn country or one ravaged with famine. The only problem with that is the tendency to dismiss your feelings and not relevant and in turn dismiss how we are feeling especially stress. Which means we can push on through and I know from how things are now for me that the truth is that it is really important recognise stress and take steps to reduce it in our lives. Our adrenal gland (the one that pushes out the flight or fight hormone) is not meant to be switched on all the time and our bodies are not designed to cope with high levels of cortisol constantly. Sorry to be such a downer …

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 8 years ago

      Oh absolutely! I also think death of loved ones or health scares put things into perspective. Missing a deadline isn’t any where near as important as your family and health.

  7. Sandra Kelly 8 years ago

    Trying to deal with stress can sometimes be as overwhelming as the stress itself! Yup, been there! Keeping things bite size and simple is the way to go. Love this post. 🙂

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 8 years ago

      It’s so stressful dealing with stress! What a weird irony right?

  8. Betty 8 years ago

    I was stressed to the max yesterday. Our new house went unconditional at 5pm. Our bank manager had had surgery and couldn’t talk on the phone and the valuation had been delayed. At 4.59 I was receiving confirmation from the bank, forwarding that to our solicitor who was then forwarding that to the owner’s solicitor.

    I think I have an extra 75 grey hairs today but it went through, just!

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