Identify What is Causing Your Stress

By Chou Hallegra

All the stress-reduction techniques in the world are of little value if you don’t find the cause of your stress. You could exercise until you pass out, but if you still can’t make your mortgage payment, no changes will happen for you. When you find out the cause, you can take steps to help yourself reduce the stress.

Taking the example of not paying your mortgage, you want to find a solution quickly. But, you might not want to use a solution like those online loan services. They charge exorbitant rates and the interest is calculated daily. Taking advantage of these services will increase your stress and will leave you stuck with a higher payment.

Your stress may be caused by someone you work with. Perhaps they are lagging in their work, and it is bringing your whole team down. One solution is to help the lagging member with his or her work. But, try to show them ways to get work done faster, so it doesn’t happen again in the future.

If your stress is caused by you procrastinating on something important, you need to reverse that immediately. The situation is likely to get worse. For instance, if you let a slow leak in your home keep building, it’s going to make it tougher to handle when it becomes a large leak. If you are not capable of fixing the leak yourself, hire a professional.

From the above scenarios, you would have dealt with the actual cause of the stress points. You could try meditating and exercising, those would help you reduce your stress to some degree. But, it wouldn’t do much to eliminate the situation. Only by finding what is causing the stress and taking actions based on that, would you be able to eliminate the stress it caused.

Stress reduction techniques not related to the cause can still help, however. They can help you relax, which can get you to think about solutions to the problem. The techniques can also help to lower your blood pressure and heart rate. When you are calmer, you will find solutions much quicker than when you are worried and stressed out.
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In most cases, you’ll be able to determine what is stressing you out. There are situations where you become anxious, and you are not sure why. Hopefully, it is a temporary condition. Should it become more long-term, consider getting some help before it gets out of control.

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For additional tips and strategies for stress management, check out my book, The Stress R.E.L.I.E.F. Method!