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.