May 09 2009
Coping with Stress
The Frustrations of a Life Stuck in Neutral
Coping With Stress
© 2009 www.poormansurvival.com
A Problem clearly defined is half solved!
Sometime around 2am the phone rang, getting me out of a sound sleep. It was another wrong number from a woman trying to reach the prayer line of TBN Ministries. Our phone number is a near duplicate of the Christian organization and we get an average of 20 calls a week from their members.
The caller immediately launched into the problems she and her family were experiencing due to a job loss. I patiently listened while she went through her litany of woes and then explained to her she had reached the wrong the number and I provided her with the correct number and some resources she could use for help.
She apologized, thanked me for the information, then hung up.
It dawned on me as to how my personal frustrations were beginning to take their toll on my mental attitude, In the past few months I had become frustrated and short tempered and others were noticing the change. It seems the adage of ‘problems coming in sets of three,’ were taking place in my life too.
Not long ago a young woman who was texting on her cell phone crashed a red light and hit us head on, destroying our car, sending us to the hospital. Luckily, our injuries were not life threatening but painful and will require months of physical therapy. As it turned out, the woman did not have auto insurance (despite a lie to the police) and we’ve incurred thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses. Eventually, we’ll recover most of our losses through our own insurance carrier.
During the same time period all kinds of other things happened which meant more money needing to be spent or less income. Appliance repairs, dental work, very slow sales, reduction in work hours, an unexpected tax bill, rising costs and the like…all putting a strain on finances and reducing our ability to continue our contributions to the various charities we support.
“There isn’t a problem on this earth that a doughnut
cannot make better!” –Roseanne Barr
There are plenty of other areas of my life, which add to my frustration level and I’m not always the most patient of individuals. However, stress can lead to anger and all of it takes its toll on your physical health and well-being. I recalled a technique I used to teach in my seminars years ago that proved useful and could help you as well. It’s a method for mapping out challenges with potential solutions. One thing to keep in mind is every problem has a solution; usually multiple solutions.
Mind Mapping
A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing.
The elements of a given mind map are arranged intuitively according to the importance of the concepts, and are classified into groupings, branches, or areas, with the goal of representing semantic or other connections between portions of information. Here’s a link to a group which provides information on how to use mindmapping.
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_01.htm
Other Means of Coping or Overcoming Stress
Something I’ve always found useful, and often recommended by experts is to write down the problem (some suggest keeping a journal). It’s a means of venting while offering a way of seeing the problems in black and white and this allows solutions to crystallize, often during the night while asleep.
Remember, stress is very tough on your body and can lead to serious medical problems!
· Eat healthy foods, get daily exercise & take a multi-vitamin
· Socialize, see friends
· Get your perspectives in order-recall how you’ve overcome previous problems
· Try yoga or meditation
· Keep in mind that in 5 years, the problem probably won’t matter
· Watch a funny movie or read a good book
Useful sites to use in addressing such issues can be found at:
http://www.guidetopsychology.com/stress.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d001201-d001300/d001249/d001249.html
www.stress.org
www.yalestress.org
