Stress is an ever-present part of life. Everyone experiences it. And everyone has their own ways of dealing with it. Unfortunately, some of these ways might be unhealthy, such as smoking, drinking, eating unhealthy food etc. These methods help you to solve the problem temporarily but they are not long-term solutions.
In the long term, these methods of dealing with stress can actually lead to a breakdown of your health. And this will result in less productivity. So you have to figure out how to deal with stress in a healthy manner, but this is easier said than done. Here are some tips:
Evaluate
Evaluate the methods you use to deal with stress. Are you a smoker? A stress-eater? Or is there some other bad habit you run to whenever you are feeling stressed? You have to be really ruthless with yourself at this point. There’s no point in saying, “It’s only one cigarette” or “It’s only some French fries.”
At the same time, don’t break down and start feeling hopeless quite so soon either. Try to be objective, as if you were evaluating someone else’s life and not your own.
Come Up with Solutions
As mentioned above, the technique of pretending that you’re looking at someone else’s life can be useful. This is because we often tend to give good advice to other people in our lives but we fail to take that advice ourselves.
So pretend that you’re talking to your best friend. What would you tell him/her to do? Would you say, “Try cutting down on one bad habit at a time”? Or would you say, “Go slow. You don’t have to change your entire life all at once”? Then try following your own advice. It sounds a bit silly but it actually works.
Action
Goethe said, “Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.” Until you start to put your ideas into practice, you’re never going to know what will result from them. So it is necessary to take action.
Look up different ways to quit smoking. Do some research about different types of diets. Or join a gym. If you’re not ready for a big step, take a baby step. Because when you take a number of baby steps, you do finally reach your goal.