8 Ways to Target Your Stress Points
By Susie Cortright
Choose a life of less stress by
identifying your stress points. You can start by answering the
following eight questions in your personal journal.
1. Look around you at
all the ways you have created your lifestyle.
Why did you make each lifestyle choice? Why do you work the hours
you do? Why are your relationships in the state they are in?
This exercise helps you to remember
that almost everything in your life is a direct result of a choice
you have made and that you have the power and the freedom to make
a new choice any time. This is also an excellent tool for positive
affirmation, particularly on those days when the sacrifices you’ve
made stare you squarely in the face. If you discover that the
choice you’ve made isn’t the right one, outline the
changes you need to make.
2. What are your priorities?
How important is your spirituality, your family, your professional
identity? Consider this ranking when you’re called to make
choices and compromises. When have you put your identity, your
plans, and your self-nurturing on hold while you took care of
someone else?
3. If you had 15 to 30
minutes each day for yourself, how would you spend it?
Schedule time for yourself. Mark it in your day planner or on
the family calendar.
4. How much of your stress
level is the effect of over-dramatization?
Remind yourself that the level of stress you experience
is directly related to the way you internalize it and the importance
you place on your own dramatization.
5. Do nutrition and exercise
contribute to your stress or help you manage it?
If you aren’t sure, keep an energy diary to help you determine
the hidden factors in your lifestyle that may be robbing you of
energy. Make a plan to change or eliminate those influences.
Log the times each day when you
feel beat or burned out. For me, it’s 3 p.m., about the
time I want to hit the cookie jar. Try to schedule your workout
(not a great big snack) for the time of day when you need an energy
boost.
6. How easy is it for
you to say "no"?
Respect yourself and your time enough to delegate tasks, and refuse
to take on more than you can handle.
7. Are you multi-tasking
yourself into more stress?
When we try to do too much at once, we are raising -- not lowering
-- our stress level. Multi-task only when you can realistically
fulfill all tasks adequately. It’s hard to tune into your
kids while you catch up on your own reading, for example, and
you can’t take time out for yourself while simultaneously
devoting the time to
anyone else. Decide which tasks deserve your full attention. Then
give it.
8. Do you have the support
network you need?
Conduct a search at http://groups.yahoo.com
or http://www.topica.com
for an online group that shares your hobbies, interests or lifestyle.
© Susie Cortright
Susie Cortright publishes Momscape.com,
a website devoted to helping busy women find balance. The site
features resources for conscious living and soul-based parenting,
including Susie's popular "Soul Snacks": creative ways
we can nurture ourselves -- and others -- in 15 minutes or less.
Susie is also the author of More
Energy for Moms, a mind-body-soul fitness book, program
and community, and Rekindling
Your Romance After Kids. Susie lives in Breckenridge,
Colorado, with her husband and three young children.
