Let me start how an average middle class person starts his day in India and how each step/action is results into stress:
7 am: Ohh shit! You got up late. You will be late for work (STRESS). Now you shout, mom/wife hurry up for my breakfast and tea, I will be late for work. My boss is going to mad. I will be late for my meeting. Now you transferred your (STRESS) to your family. Wow. Its so contagious.
8 am: What the heck, how come bus is so late today. My boss is going to be mad (STRESS).
9 am: At the office boss is waiting. He is furious(he himself is STRESSed). Shouts at you (STRESS).
10 am: Back of your mind what boss told is going on. You are not able to concentrate. You are not able to finish things that you are suppose to do that morning. (STRESS).
11 am: Phone from home. Mom/Wife asks “Is everything OK? I was worried (STRESS)” You reply back saying everything is fine. After hanging up you realize unnecessarily you have given STRESS to them and start feeling guilty (STRESS).
12 pm: Postman come and deliver’s a mail. Application package for your son/daughter/brother/sister for applying to US. Now you get all questions in your mind (STRESS) “Will he/she get admission? Will he/she gets financial aid?”
1 pm: Go out for lunch with your friends. Upon discussion you realize, there is downsizing going in the company (STRESS) Question arises “Will you be the victim as you were late for the meeting?”
2 pm: You go to the Bank to get draft for$50 so that your brother/sister/son/daughter can apply. At the bank there are long ques (STRESS). Manager asks to prove the proof for application package. Opps you were not knowing that you were suppose to bring the package (STRESS). Total waste of time.
3 pm: Boss calls to say you will be helping him out late for the proposal for new project. You were suppose to go out to your best friends wedding. He is going to be mad (STRESS).
6 pm: Totally drained out due to days work (STRESS) and now you will be working overtime with your boss.
7 pm: Boss leaves saying he has to attend a party. You finish rest of the things. Its going to take 2 more hours (STRESS). He wants everything ready by next day morning (STRESS).
8 pm: Decides to take the chance and leave the office under tension (STRESS).
9 pm: At the reception, your friend is furious (STRESS). He wanted you to help him but you forgot to even make a phone call. You feel so guilty (STRESS).
11 pm: Reach home. Your son/daughter/brother/sister waiting eagerly (STRESS) for the admission package and check as deadline is near. You forgot the package at the office and did not get the check. (STRESS).
12 am: Decides to call the day off and thinking tomorrow morning everything will be fine as you will start early.
Next day: OPPS! You are late, STORY CONTINUES.
If we look at our lives, we live under pressure so much that we hardly find time for ourselves and to relax. What I mentioned is just an example, but we all know everyday there are things about which we worry every single day and at all the time.
Stress has been linked to cause severe problems related to heart disease, diabetes etc. and recent studies have shown that it stresses one’s immune system.(https://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030630/hl_nm/stress_immune_dc_1). If one’s immune system is bad, he/she is prone to any disease and thus one small thing can result into big mess. Thus it is very important to control the stress and to deal with it.
Now the question arises how to deal with it. What I am going to suggest is my PERSONAL opinion and may or may not work for others. I would suggest the following.
1) ORGANIZE:
Try to organize your thought and plan out things. Write it down if needed. Follow the plan you made and review it and update it as needed. This will help you to reduce unnecessary stress arising due to surprises or forgetfulness.
2) ACCEPT
Try and learn to accept things the way they are instead of regretting and feeling sorry about. Once accepted, try to analyze the problem and find a solution. If needed help talk with your friends and family for their OPINION. Stressing OPINION because at the end you have to take the decision. Don’t just follow what they say, follow it if you think is correct otherwise if things goes wrong you will feel guilty that you followed blindly which will give rise to stress.
3) Know Your Body
If you eat something that your body does not accept, you will fall sick and will be cause for STRESS arising due to it. Know your body. Drink soothing drinks like tea, coffee, milk, juices etc when under stress. Try to pamper yourself at that time.
4) Long Walks
Go out for long walk when under stress. I prefer to go where there is less crowd and where there is less pollution like parks, beaches etc. This helps me to clear my mind and think properly.
5) Be Positive
Always believe in “For every problem, there is solution”. If stress is due to some problem either at professional or personal reasons, try to find solution for it, instead of sitting under stress and crying over it.
6) Talk/Consult
We all know, we don’t know everything about everything. Try to take advice/opinion from the experts who has similar experiences or experts in solving similar problems. They say sharing a problem helps. Personally I like to solve it myself instead of talking about it with others but have also seen this helping many others.
7) Do What You Like
Take a break from your routine life. Go out with your family or friends to place you like. Or just sit at home and do what you like. Try to relax. At that time don’t think about anything else but about yourself. Go out for back to back movies. It helps.
8) Music
Try listening to soothing music. If sad, don’t listen to the songs which reminds you of that situation. Listen to dance songs/ fun songs etc etc.
In short I will say, you know yourself better than anybody else. If there is a problem which is giving you stress, solve it.
If you think you need medical advice, go and consult a doctor. Nothing wrong in doing that. On the net you will find tons of information how to deal with stress. Of all site, I liked https://stress.org/ and found information very useful.
RELAX
-Rahul