Unemployment Stress- How To Cope With It

The loss of a job or unemployment inevitably creates stress and anxiety. You may begin to wonder about how long you will remain without work as well as how long you will make ends meet while unemployed. No doubt, you are faced with the problem and stress of being unemployed. However, let us consider some practical steps you can take to deal with the stress and emotional challenges of being unemployed.

·         Don’t let your fears control you:  You necessarily don’t have to act as if your problem did not exist. However, when you constantly worry about your predicament and indeed what might happen tomorrow, you will only add to your present emotional stress. Instead of worrying about what may develop tomorrow, why not take measures to deal with the present. One way to do this is to try to keep yourself under control so that you will be able to think about matters logically and rationally too. Instead of worrying about your fears, try focusing on the present and its problems because this will remove all kinds of stress.

·         Be Content: Try to limit your wants and be satisfied when your daily needs are met. Do not constantly seek to satisfy the desire for more, because this will only undermine your efforts to simplify. If you were formerly used to a particular lifestyle before you became unemployed, striving to maintain such a lifestyle now that you are unemployed could be a great source of unemployment stress. Thus, it is important that you have an adjusted viewpoint about life so that you will be able to face the realities of your present situation.

·         Exercise regularly: Endeavour to have a routine of exercise. The importance of having a regular routine of exercise can never be over emphasized. Exercise releases endorphins in the body and results in feelings of happiness and well being. Thus, when under stress, and indeed unemployment stress, exercise could actually be extremely helpful in making you feel better.

Practical Ways of Coping with Stress

Social Support Network: if you avoid doing things all by yourself but rather with others, you stand a high chance of reducing stress. In fact, if you have social support networks, you will tend to cope better with stress and have a better mental health than those who try to do things on their own. Social support networks are important because they provide you an avenue to regularly meet people with similar problems. Not only that, they tend to relate with and encourage one another and hence, provide the necessary ‘social buffer’ needed to reduce stress.

Be Well Informed About Your Situation: you will most likely tend to cope well with a stressful situation if you are well informed about the situation. This is because, being well informed about a potentially stressful situation will enable you make appropriate judgements and choices that are necessary for coping. As you gather information about the potentially stressful situation, you will find that your view of the stressful situation begins to change and the choice you will make about the situation will become more obvious and suddenly, the stressful situation will be over because you are more equipped with adequate information about the stressful situation. For example, if you  have a flu and your doctor tells you it will be over in 3 days, you have a tendency to say ‘’all right, I’ll only be uncomfortable for a while, I’ll be fine soon’’

Maintain a positive outlook on life: if you have an optimistic outlook on life, you are more likely to cope with a stressful life event than if you are pessimistic. So try to always think rationally and positively. Don’t always get discouraged if you don’t achieve all your goals. Always believe that not all goals are worth achieving. I have particularly found out that some goals are catastrophic in the end, and those that seems to be catastrophic really are not.

Have a relaxed self: it is important that you change the way you view yourself. You should always think more of yourself as a relaxed person. Always do everything in moderation. Do not eat quickly or over eat and always relax your muscles. Do not let your situation dictate how you feel, but rather watch how hectic the lives of other people seem and let this constantly remind you to take things easy. Even when you are in a terrible traffic jam, stay calm, turn on the radio, listen to a good music and relax!

Exercise, rest and have fun: Enjoy life and laughter, keep a sense of humour and regularly exercise. Engage in picnics, go fishing and visit the cinema to watch a good movie. Exercise and laughter are important because they trigger the production of endorphins in your body making you feel refreshed and well and in the long run, help reduce stress a great deal. Exercises will also help tone your muscles and also promote well being, mental health and lesser the likely hood of illness.