Everyone has stress in their lives. Stress is a normal part of daily living and it develops as a result of your body’s reaction to a challenge or demand. In short bursts, stress can be positive and adaptive, such as when it helps you avoid danger or meet a deadline; however, when stress continues for a long period of time, it can harm your health and contribute to both physical and psychological problems. Stress that persists is considered to be chronic, and may be present if you have ongoing financial problems, an unhappy marriage, difficult family relationships, or trouble at work. You can become so accustomed to chronic stress that you don’t realize it’s a problem. If you feel under pressure and have any of the following symptoms, it may be that stress is affecting you:
- Forgetfulness
- Difficulty sleeping or sleeping too much
- Frequent aches and pains
- Tiredness
- Headaches
- Diarrhea or constipation
- Sexual problems
- Stiff jaw or neck
- Irritability
- Upset stomach
- Use of alcohol or drugs to relax
- Weight loss or gain
Working Through Stress and Learning to Cope More Effectively
Most often, clients who come to me for stress management are experiencing problems with sleep, irritability, fatigue, and difficulty relaxing. My clients are typically very successful and ambitious people who work hard and are searching for a sense of peace and tranquility in their lives. My approach is unique to each client, and focuses on the individual’s particular strengths and needs. I will work with you to learn about your life circumstances and history to discover the sources of stress in your life, as well as the ways that you have tried to manage stress in the past. These things may involve your work, family, relationships, finances, and all other areas of your personal life. I am especially skilled at teaching techniques to help you relax including meditation, deep breathing, guided imagery, visualization, and cognitive re-framing. As I client of mine, you will have access to my brainwave audios, which will help you easily and effortlessly achieve deep levels of meditation and relaxation. These will help you to manage stress more effectively, and handle challenging situations with increased ease and confidence.
Once I have learned about your personal stressors, I will design a program to help you de-stress that utilizes your particular strengths and goals. Clients often benefit from utilizing a combination of techniques that are most effective to them. Some individuals need support in learning how to re-frame stressful events and create more control over their circumstances. Other clients need help structuring their day to include stress-relievers such as exercise and time spent in relaxing, non-work related activities. Some clients benefit from learning meditation, brainwave therapy, and guided relaxation to help them reduce stress on the spot. Most clients utilize a combination of these techniques. I will work with you to design a specific stress reduction program that fits your particular needs.
A helpful approach to stress management may include the following:
- Identify the sources of stress in your life. This is often not as straightforward as it sounds. While it is easy to describe major stressors such as changing jobs, going through a divorce or moving, identifying the sources of chronic stress can be more complicated. When stress is endured for long periods of time, it becomes part of daily living. It then may be easy to overlook the manner in which your thoughts, feelings and behaviors contribute to your everyday stress levels. You may know that you’re constantly worried about deadlines, but maybe it’s your procrastination, rather than the actual job demands, that is causing the stress.
- Practice re-framing. When we become accustomed to high amounts of stress it is easy to feel that situations in our life are catastrophic. A helpful practice is to cognitively re-frame these events. Almost every situation that feels catastrophic can be re-framed as being either unfortunate, inconvenient, or inconsiderate.
- Exercise. Physical activity is a huge stress reliever and the release of endorphins make you feel good and distract you from your daily worries.
- Connect to others who are supportive and have your best interests at heart.
- A daily program of meditation will reduce your stress and assist you in increasing your coping.
- Adapt to the stressor by viewing it in a more positive perspective by adjusting your expectations.
- Accept the things you cannot change, particularly the actions of other people, and control the way you react to them.
- Often keeping a stress journal is helpful. This journal can help you identify stressors in your life and the manner in which you deal with them. A journal can help you track how you felt physically and emotionally, how you responded to the stressor, and what you did that made yourself feel better. This simple process of evaluation can help you learn how to best manage your particular stressors both physically and mentally.
Are you ready for breakthrough in your life?
How to get in touch with me
The easiest way is to schedule your complimentary phone consultation with me through my online booking calendar, and I will call you at the designated time. No hassle, no phone tag, a time that is convenient to you and you speak directly with me.
Email: contact@drsusanspicer.com
Phone: 989-577-5950