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| Learn to avoid holiday blues. [Pic] |
Tis the season to be jolly...no, wait, not quite.
Ironically, during this festive season, most people experience very high stress level. The reasons are aplenty. Here are a few common experiences and some of these may have hit your stress button:
- Rushed - You are running out of time and you work feverishly to clear your work before your year end break.
- Cash trapped - You have a long shopping list and you feel the strain on your wallet.
- Lonely - The sight of family reunion, friends get-together or loving couples sparks a bout of loneliness in you.
- Irritable - With all the hustle and bustle around you, you begin to feel an overdose of jingle bells and Santa Claus.
- Brain drained - You run out of gift ideas but refuse to settle for the cliche.
- Resentful - It's never your cup of tea to socialize and celebrate. You don't understand and resent all the excitement around you.
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| Life is not stree-free but you can do with less. [Pic] |
There you go, you are stressed out and may have some of these stress symptoms. While life is never stress-free, you cannot afford to leave it uncontrolled.
There are many ways to eliminate stress and they are not new to you. Let me put some of those together and hopefully the list is a timely reminder at this time of the year. Revisit it whenever you need a nudge.
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| Understand what stresses you. [Pic] |
9. Know your stressor
If you do not know what bothers you, you do not know how to respond. Spend some 10 minutes to think about how you feel and why you feel that way.
8. Check your commitments
List your commitments and consider how each of them add on to your stress level. Sort them in a descending order and delete from the top of the list.
7. Have a 'do it now' habit
Very often 'later' becomes 'never'. The more you allow your 'to-do' list to grow, the more you feel stressed. Read more in "Procrastination is Best Left Till Tomorrow".
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| Multitasking can be stressful and unproductive. [Pic] |
6. Learn to single-task
If you have been duped to believe that multitasking is the way to raise productivity, think again. You might be one of the many victims who are so stressed out juggling from task to task at the same time. See "So Clever ! You Can Multitask !" and "Farewell to Multitasking".
5. Motivate yourself
Stop blaming others for the lack of motivation. Let's face it, it would have to come from you. See "Get Your Daily Motivation" and "How to Kill Your Motivation?".
4. Balance your calories account
How much must you eat and how much exercise do you need? I don't know! All I know is that you never take in more calories than you burn. I will leave it to the experts to give you tips on exercise and healthy diets.
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| Take time to feel grateful. [Pic] |
3. Be grateful
Appreciating what you have gives you instant richness. Sometimes, you just need to remind yourself how much more you have compared to millions others and how good you are and can be. See "Sometimes, I Forget..." and "You Are in a Top Ten List".
2. Choose happiness
That's right, choose, not pursue. The thing about happiness is that it is always with you. If you want to be happy, just be. See "Happiness is a Choice" and "Happiness Quotient".
1. Quit your job
Hang on and don't jump in yet. I do not want to be responsible for a workplace exodus anywhere. This is an option albeit a drastic one but do it with your eyes open. See "To Quit or Not to Quit?" and you may not have to quit after all.
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| Stressed spelled backwards is desserts. [Pic] |
Our body is built to feel stress when danger is sensed. The Adrenaline rushes make our body works efficiently and it is important for a 'fight-or-flight' situation. However, when stress is sustained, our body will protest over time.
Take control of your life and manage your stress level. The colors of Christmas are red and green. Not blue.
"The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another." (William James)
