How not to Deal with Stress

Several methods can be employed to help minimize the physical and emotional effects of stress. Both short-term strategies for symptom management, and long-term cures for persistent stress are available. However, many common courses of action actually do more harm than good. It is very easy to produce the opposite effect of what you are looking for. These are some of the more frequently-made mistakes.

You may, knowingly or otherwise, engage in self-destructive behavior to deal with stress.

Stress causes shortened tempers, which can lead to lashing out at friends and family. Some people take to the "bottle" or to endless cups of coffee as a result of stress, which aggravate the problem. It can result in aggressive or violent actions.

Insomnia is a common product of stress. If you're physically uncomfortable as a result of stress, it's hard to sleep. Even when you do finally get to sleep, your sleep is often interrupted and doesn't leave you feeling refreshed in the morning.

Sleeping pills and other medication can be a short-term solution, but these can lead to long term dependency that adds to your problems. Meditation can reduce stress without chemicals by focusing the mind into a state of calm and relaxation.

Some individuals experience an elevated focus on solving problems. But obsessive thinking, even when a problem demands your attention, rarely leads to a solution. Take yourself out of the equation and imagine a friend is experiencing the problem. You would have concerns, but be better able to give advice. When the problem belongs to someone else, we usually find it much easier to maintain objectivity.

Doing the right thing for bad reasons is erroneously thought to be a way to handle stress. A way to shift the focus away from problems at home is to lose yourself in your work. Avoidance is only a partial and temporary solution, at best.

Sometimes a good strategy is to ignore problems that eventually resolve on their own. However, ignoring real circumstances doesn't make them go away. Emotional control and a new perspective can be gained by a healthy, temporary break. But it should be just that--a positive step towards a solution, rather than just running away to hide.

All of these bad methods derive from the same root. Reality isn't all pleasant, but it doesn't go away when you stop acknowledging it. There are often many obstacles separating us from what we want or need in life. Life obstacles--and the effort required to overcome them--can lead to stress, especially combined with a lack of confidence in our ability to deal with them.