There are proactive things you can do to prevent triggers from occurring that commonly result in significant stress. For example, you can help prevent a serious health issue by having regular health check-ups and getting your age-based health checks. For Women’s Health Week earlier this month, Jean Hailes, with the support of their partner Hologic, published a one-page outline of what health checks women should get based on age.
Another big proactive stress prevention is ensuring that you have appropriate insurance coverage in place for your and your family’s personal situation and needs (e.g., health/medical, life, disability, income protection, home, car / accident, business professional/liability, etc.). Insurance helps provide a safety blanket per say. I would recommend speaking to a qualified financial advisor (ASIC directory here) to ensure that you have appropriate insurance coverage, and also to check you are saving sufficiently for your future and retirement.
Work-related stress consistently ranks in the top 5 stressors globally. A proactive action you can take to help prevent work-related stress is be in a company and job/role that is well suited to your strengths and needs. If you are in a job that is making you miserable, constantly stressed, or worse (unsafe / threatened), start looking for a new role or employer. Life is too short to be stuck in a job where you are constantly stressed. Lastly, avoid packing your days full of activities and tasks to help prevent overcommitting yourself. Plan some “downtime” in your work and personal schedules.
Work-related stress consistently ranks in the top 5 stressors globally.
Proactive Intervention to Course Correct
When stress does arise, it is really important to know and recognise your early warning signs and take proactive action to prevent stress from continuing to build-up and escalate. Stress is an “allostatic load”, which means that everything builds up, and that it’s typically not one thing that breaks us, but rather several things compounding that cause the stress response to heighten and become overwhelming.
The next time you are just starting to feel a little stressed (well before the point of overwhelm), pause and notice what you are feeling. For example, some common early warning signs of stress include holding your breath, tightening your muscles (shoulder, neck, jaw, face), frustration, negative internal thoughts, feeling warm or flushed, etc. Then determine a plan of corrective action to start to lighten your stress load, the sooner the better. Some immediate actions to reduce your current reaction and symptoms could be to take some deep breaths with a slow exhale, or go for a walk or get some fresh air outdoors. Then look to identify some corrective actions to lighten your load by deciding which activities you can pause or stop, which you can “do less”, or delegate, or decline all together. Pausing to proactively take corrective action can really make a significant change to the direction you are headed. Given that stress is an allostatic load, reducing only one thing that is contributing to your stress makes a difference, and if you can reduce or remove additional things, that makes even more significant improvement.
Some immediate actions to reduce your current reaction and symptoms could be to take some deep breaths with a slow exhale, or go for a walk or get some fresh air outdoors.
The key is to understand your personal stress triggers, symptoms or warning signs, and plan proactive self-care actions and interventions which work for you to course correct before things get out of hand.
If you are struggling with stress and prioritising self-care, and are thinking that you may need some additional help and support, I do offer several free resources on my website, as well as a complimentary 30-minute chat where we can discuss your challenges, and ideas of how I may be able to help you. You can schedule a free consult here (or email me if you can’t find a time that works for you).
Note: This article was originally published here:
1 Source: www.healthywomen.org article New Survey: Moms Are Putting Their Health Last – HealthyWomen, Vera Sizensky Mar 27, 2015
Stephanie Sullivan is a certified Life Coach, Health Coach, NLP Practitioner and founder of Elevate Your Life Coaching PTY LTD. After 23 years in demanding, high-stress corporate roles as a business consultant, then a corporate executive, she knows first-hand about stress and trying to balance career and parenting demands, along with personal needs and wellbeing. Now Steph’s purpose is helping people to make life changes to reduce stress, increase energy, and achieve their personal goals, career / life ambitions, and wellbeing.
For additional info, visit www.elevateyourlifecoaching.com.au, follow her on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, or email her at steph@elevateyourlifecoaching.com.au.
