Identifying Stress in Your Life

A stressor is anything that can cause stress in our lives. It can be a particular situation, a comment being made, an action or a feeling. How do you know if a situation is causing you stress? Your reactions can cue you in.

Here are some common stress responses:

• Responding with anger and getting overemotional

• Muscle tension; especially in the neck and shoulders that cause headaches

• Nervousness

• Insomnia or waking frequently; never feeling rested

• Upset stomach or frequent indigestion

• Procrastination and wanting to sleep instead of deal with problems

If you have experienced these symptoms and others, it’s possible you have stressful situations in your life. When you think about it, some situations may be easy to identify – large workload on the job, lots to do around the house, unruly children. But, some responses are a result of how we aren’t handling stress well and those causes may be harder to pinpoint.

Knowing is Half the Battle

Pay attention to things which cause you stress; take notes if you have to. Take some time to think about these situations with a clear head. Decide if it’s really worth getting upset over or if you can avoid the situation in the future.

If avoiding the situation is not possible, then learn ways to deal with it.

Try keeping a stress journal. Write down anything that causes a stress response. Don’t skip over your emotional responses. They are just as important as the way your body feels physically. How did you handle the stressor if at all? Write that down too.

You will begin to see patterns to your behavior and responses. Learn why some situations seem to persist. Avoidance of a task or situation until the last possible minute may be the root cause of the stress.

Knowing your stressors is not always easy. Keeping a journal can help. Once you can identify them, you are halfway there.

Related posts:

1. Good and Bad Stress