The first thing in learning how to manage stress is to identify what causes stress in your life. There are many different sources and factors causing stress on an individual. However, the factors of stress mainly depend on how you perceive it and how you take those causes to be affecting you. Sometimes, what you think is stressful to you may not be the same case for another person.
For example, you seem to be getting a heavy work assignment for the day and it seems that you cannot take all of it. So, you start feeling the pressure of it. Your other office colleagues may not perceive it that way. They may see it as a challenge rather than a burden and so they enjoy the busy atmosphere they are engrossed in and find satisfaction once the tasks are completed.
Knowing Your Stressors
So, whatever it is that you feel is causing stress on you is called a “stressor”. This could be a situation or a person that is directly involved in your life. We tend to associate these stressors as negativities in life just like endless family feuds and hectic work schedule.
In the many aspects of our lives, we commonly get these stressors over traumatic experiences such as the death of a loved one or a divorce case. Family is one of the biggest causes of stress.
Family issues and arguments would lead a person to develop negative stress. Another very huge factor is financial problems. We all get stressed over issues with money and expenses which can directly affect other aspects of our lives.
Work is also topping the most common and biggest reasons of stress by most of us. Let us elaborate more on some of the top ranking stressors in our lives.
Major Stress Triggers
Stress is becoming a major problem in the workplace. People worry so much about getting a lot of things to do, no proper compensation, poor performance, and demanding bosses and even co-workers.
When the level of work performance does not meet the company’s expectations, you worry about getting fired and losing the job. But the very common factor would be the pressure we get from too many tasks.
Stress is usually triggered when you are nearing the deadline and you are still halfway your work.
Financial problem is a major stress factor. When money is the issue, we feel so down and helpless. In fact, money issue is even one of the biggest causes of our parents’ arguments. We feel stressed when we are unable to provide for our own expenses. When we find it hard to sustain a living, it makes us terribly upset.
Family is a heavy stressor, too. If it is not on our work and money matters, the problems that we carry are sometimes rooted from within our family setting. It could be unsettled arguments between and among family members or parents settling on divorce.
Even the health in the family members can cause stress, too. The entire family gets worried about a member getting sick or injured. Major changes such as relocation can also be a stressor for the family.
Another leading cause of stress in our lives is personal concerns and issues. We all have our own issues especially with the many things that are bothering us. You may blame the cause of personal stress on the heavy workload, for example, but the truth is you were actually just procrastinating.
Our personal attitude toward a certain situation may unknowingly affect us. There may be certain undesirable habits that we need to reassess because these may indirectly cause us to feel stressed. Many people who have a negative outlook in life easily feel pressured with the things they do.
Evaluating Oneself
One of the best ways to understand the impact of stress in our lives is to evaluate oneself. This may be done by simply asking yourself questions for self-reflection or scribbling on a stress journal.
Whenever you feel like you are starting to feel pressured and tensed, it could be stress you are feeling. Keep track of that by jotting it down on your journal. Do not forget as well to take note your feelings, how you responded, and your action plans toward beating that particular stress.
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