Dealing With Stress

A friend of mine called me today and asked “what do you do when you can’t get your mind to stop racing?” He found himself so overwhelmed with things at home and at work that whenever he got up to do something he found himself pacing the floor.

Most all of us have felt this kind of stress before. You may not have found yourself literally pacing the floor, but your mind was racing and you couldn’t find a place to get started. Other times we find ourselves starting one task and then before we get five minutes into it our stress gets us thinking about another task and we jump up and start working on that one.

Bottom line: We don’t get anything done!

There was a great comedy sketch Bob Newhart did a few years ago. He reprised his role as a counselor and a woman came into his office with all her problems and he told her, "I think I have the answer." She waited for his reply as he leaned over his desk and sternly said, “Stop it!”

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just “stop it?” Although that was a funny sketch it's not very good advice! For those of you who are like me andneed a little more than that, here are some steps you can take to help alleviate stress:

1. Just breathe! It is a proven fact that if we slow down our breathing our heart rate will slow down too. Close your eyes and breathe in slowly through your nose and slowly exhale though your mouth. Repeat this a few times until you feel your heart rate slowing down.

2. Make a “to do” list. Most people hate lists, and I am one of them. However, I can’t dispute the fact that when I am stressed and I write things down on paper it makes it easier for me to find a place to start.

3. Prioritize. Look at your “to do” list and put an A by everything that has to get done today. Write them on a new piece of paper in order of importance.

4. Start with number one. Take the first thing off your list and start doing it. If you start thinking about other items on that list, remind yourself that you will get to them once this task is complete.

5. Give yourself a break! Remember: you can only do what you can do! Superman and Superwoman were fictional characters, not models for the person we should try to become!

There is no way to remove stressors in our lives, but there are ways for us to deal with them. It’s when we don’t deal with them that they can pile up and cause such stress that it throws us into dysfunction.

The next time you feel the pressure of stress creeping up on you, try these five steps and see if you don’t feel a little better.

Johnny Walker is a Christian Counselor and the founder of Family Works Counseling.