Strategies to beat stress

Feeling burned out? Stress management techniques are needed now more than ever and hypnosis can offer beneficial relief for stress and anxiety.

Researchers of stress know that it’s a spectrum. That each individual has to factor in their own resilience levels and ability to reframe stress into their equation. Moderate stress can enable us to stay motivated and accomplish things effectively. But it’s just as well researched that stress can be a triggering and aggravating factor for many diseases and pathological conditions. With any increase in stress our adrenal glands work overtime. Increases in the stress hormones adrenalin and cortisol are clear risk factors for illnesses.

Everybody experiences overwhelm. Unexpected challenges may arrive suddenly and when added to our daily responsibilities the balance we strive for begins to tip. Our mind may begin a downward spiral. We may feel stifled by the pressure, we may ruminate on being “not good enough”. We may end up tense and terse with loved ones. Integrity can suffer. We may try to keep up the pretence of a facade that “all is well”, when we know inside that we are actually feeling far from well.

In my hypnosis practise I have found that addressing the following questions are helpful when we experience overwhelm:

What things are within our control? And what things are out of our control?

Instead of lumping all our stressors into one gigantic overwhelm, one important exercise is to distinguish between what we can influence or change and what we can't. For example when we clearly identify what is outside of our control, like the past, other peoples' behaviour, what they may think of us, weather patterns and traffic jams. We can recognise that any anxiety we put into these leaves us disempowered to make change and is a waste of our valuable resources. Conversely what is in our control might be our behaviour, accepting ourselves for who we are, our choices of what we put in our bodies, the plans we make, the people we choose to interact with, the events or locations we choose to go to, the boundaries we can put in place. Identifying the things we can change gives us a sense of empowerment. We need to be able to focus our energy into these changes.

What is within our means and abilities? And how can we apply our skills accordingly?

Life is full of challenges and facing them is what makes us grow our abilities, skills and emotional resilience. But if a challenge begins to seriously undermine your mental health, then being honest with yourself about your capacity is key. Being able to say "no" to extra commitments is just as important as delegating or asking for help. Much research has been conducted in the psychological field of why people find it so hard to ask for help.

Asking may feel like vulnerability, to be avoided out of the fear of rejection. Culturally embedded values of individualistic achievement can also inhibit asking for help. A mindset that has been primed to think asking for help will be viewed as a weakness can lead to tragic mental health suffering.

In my personal life I enjoy basic home DIY projects. But after learning many skills independently (the hard way!) I know now that asking for help can reduce mistakes, usually results in better outcomes, and collaborative teamwork can be much more enjoyable than slogging away solo.

Some years ago I worked long months doing a construction project by myself and experienced significant “burn out”. Exhaustion caused by constantly feeling overwhelmed. In retrospect I could have easily recognised the early warning signs. I needed to have taken more breaks and “called it a day” earlier. I needed to have asked for help. The benefit of hindsight!

Seriously, it was well within my control to change my pattern of working, but I didn’t consider the resistance I had to asking for help.

Understanding “what is within our control and what is not” combined with “working within our means” is vital for reframing our work load. True resilience is knowing how to avoid overwhelm and how to ensure stress doesn’t shift from being motivating to being toxic.