How to Cope With Stress and Anxiety
by Trevor Dumbleton
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Among the hardest parts of living in the modern world is stress and
anxiety. With worries about work, the environment, the economy, natural
disasters, terrorism, and the general state of the world, it seems that
there is no end to the number of things to worry about. Though we cannot
control many of these things, they still weigh on our minds and cause us
stress and anxiety. However, despite these concerns, we should try to
avoid stress and anxiety.
Stress and anxiety are, at their hearts, mental problems. They are
conditions in which the mind is racing and constantly circling around
certain concerns. The concerns may be seemingly mundane, but the concerns
keep recurring until they push out all the other thoughts in the brain and
create their own towering mass of worry. And this tower is, in itself
self-propagating simply because stress and anxiety tend to create
themselves because stress and anxiety cause the mind to condition itself
to stress and anxiety.
There is research to suggest that the mind gets used to stress and
anxiety and, once it is conditioned, it will quickly return to stress and
anxiety. In fact, there is some evidence that shows that stress
conditioning may actually begin when we are too young to do anything about
it. Children who face a great deal of stress will find their minds altered
such that they will quickly return to a state of stress at the slightest
provocation. It is almost as though the mind misses the state of stress
and anxiety and wants to return to it once it has found the state.
Unfortunately, this creates serious problems not only for the mind, but
also the body. Stress and anxiety put a great many demands on the human
body. It causes headaches, high blood pressure, ulcers, sleep problems,
immune system deficiencies and can even swell the joints, which can cause
severe problems with conditions such as arthritis. As well, stress and
anxiety can result in depression, memory problems, and even alcohol and
drug abuse for those who suffer from stress and anxiety regularly. Thus,
stress and anxiety are not merely problems of the mind, but they are
problems of the mind that can cause problems in the body. The mind does,
in surprising ways, control the body. And a mind that is overly taxed can
lead to a body that is overly taxed.
Thus, you must understand that you can also control your mind. Stress
and anxiety do not need to take over your mind. In fact, you can control
how your mind responds to the problems that arise in life.
Remember that you can decide not to be stressed. You do not have to be
anxious. You can change your mind and let things slide away. Yes, there
are many things in this world to worry about. However, worrying about them
will not change many aspects of the modern world. Constantly thinking
about work, the environment, the economy, or politics will not change
them. Instead, resolve to change things that you can change and do not
worry about what you cannot control.
The thing to keep in mind is a sense of perspective. Yes, work is
stressful, but do you need to worry about being attacked by a lion when
you leave the office? When you go shopping for groceries, do you need to
think about whether there will be a pack of marauding barbarians in the
produce section? Hopefully, the answer is, "No." Thus, you do not have the
same concerns as our forebears and you should keep that in mind. Life is
pretty safe these days and the so-called "Age of Stress" is entirely of
our own creation. We are stressed about things that we decide to be
stressed about. And the things that we are stressed about really aren't
that important in the long-run scheme of things.
Stress and anxiety are, seemingly, enough to worry about on their own.
So don't fall into the trap of keeping them going. Keep life in
perspective, keep yourself on an even keel and remember that you can
control your own mind. If you can manage to do that, stress and anxiety to
not need to take over your life.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LowerYourStress.com is a categorized resource directory for
everything to do with stress. Get a free ebook to help with your stress
levels.
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