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Are You Stressed Out? Pissed Off? Just Not Gonna Take It Anymore?

Built-up stress and anxiety

Do you get stressed out and absolutely nuts inside when you look around and see the dishes need to be done, groceries need to be bought, trash needs emptied, papers are piling up, and on and on?  If your home is like mine, it doesn't seem to bother other family members at all!

Letting that mental stress fester and maybe even grow may feel good for a bit, but finding some stress relief will allow you to possibly live longer and happier.

The consequences of holding on to pent up anger just aren't worth harboring a grudge against a person! This holds true even if your anxiety is from something work-related, dealing with a relationship issue or anything else that gets your blood boiling.

One favorite phrase of mine is "it's just not that important!" I used to, shall we say,  "get upset" with other drivers; now I say "it's just not that important, and it feels soooo much better!

The Effects of Stress

Did you know that how you cope with stress affects your cholesterol levels? In the November 2005 issue of Health Psychology, the results were published about a study on cholesterol levels of 199 men and women originally given identical stresses in order to find a baseline on how they respond to stress.

Three years later, their cholesterol levels were checked again, and the people who had higher stress responses in the testing had higher LPL levels of cholesterol.
Mindset and stress
Their point was that the people who handled stresses better and didn't let things bother them as much, didn't have their LDL levels rise as much as the people who had a harder time dealing with their anxiety.

Ways to Cope with Stress

The best stress relief I've found to solve a problem is to figure out what it is that bothers me the most and then take action to take care of it, even if it wasn't originally my responsibility. Like the Nike slogan says, "Just Do It!"  This can be done at home and at work.

Sometimes I actually make a quick to-do list or an actual "This is Frustrating Me Today" list and try to get some things crossed off.

If it's an issue of someone didn't do what they were supposed to do, if that person isn't around at the time, just do it yourself. Instead of focusing on their not doing it, think about something pleasant while you're taking care of it. After all, whatever it is you are doing will also make things better for you, right?

Just getting the offending task wiped out at least makes it so you won't get angry every time you see it – because it's not there anymore!  If you're at work, your boss will see you going the extra mile, and not the shirker. Hence, positive vibes are going thru your body instead of angry, negative ones.

At home, making up a  quick chore chart that shows who is assigned to what chore on what week may help as a reminder to everyone that things need done. This helps because time goes by so fast it's easy to forget it's your turn again!
For instance, I try to do a full out scrub of my bathroom sink every Monday, but  sometimes the end of the week gets here and I realize I haven't done it yet!

A timer is a great time management tool

A Timer Helps to Cope

If your frustration is your fault (noooo, that wouldn't happen, right!), figure out how you can do it better. If you don't like doing something, set a timer for however much time you can handle, even if it's just 5 minutes! Fifteen minutes or an hour would be better if it's a larger task.

Give yourself permission to stop when the timer goes off. Or do what I do: take care of 5 more papers, or 5 more things put away, or one more phone call. But then unless you reset the timer – stop. But only do this technique if you really, really can't stand whatever it is you're doing. Otherwise, focus on it till it's done.

Life is so much more enjoyable when you see things in a positive light. And the good thing about doing that is the joy spreads just as easily as the bad vibes and you don't have to fight it!

On top of all that, our blood pressure AND our LDL cholesterol numbers can go down. Whoopee!







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