«STRESS»

        So you’re having a “bad-hair-day?” You didn’t sleep for worry; the cat got sick on the carpet; the traffic on the freeway was nightmarish; the pressure at work over the top and the week ahead promises to be absolute hell? You feel the tension building up, you have a headache/tummy ache, you are tired and your concentration is deteriorating.

So how do you handle it?
(a) shout at your partner (hell you’re entitled to your bad mood – you’ve really earned it);
(b) collapse in a heap, put a pillow over your head and give up on life;
(c) rush to the GP and get your anti-depressant/anti-anxiety medication renewed;
(d) go to the pub and drown your sorrows;
(e) all of the above.

There are many contributors to stress in our lives:

We may have lost balance. Work or home demands may have become overwhelming; we may have got out of the habit of exercising and we may have lost touch with friends.

Our thinking may have become negative.
Perhaps we have bottled up our emotions.
Our own belief system may be placing too much of a demand on us (e.g. “I have to be perfect”)
Even positive events in our life may be exerting stress.
Stress takes its toll on all of us. At first our minds and bodies make every effort to respond to the demands, but eventually they start to succumb to the stressors and our springs start to lose their sproing.

So what can we do about this? We need to:

· re-evaluate our life-patterns
· prioritise at work
· look at our attitudes
· communicate better: listen and talk
· learn assertiveness skills
· make positive self-statements
· focus on breathing/relaxation
· make time for “self”

Hang in there, the claw-marks stop HERE!

Mind Matters is a regular Times column by Pamela Glyn, a Howick-based psychologist. Tel/Fax: 535-2224. Email: glynpsy@pl.net Web site: www.glyn-psychology.co.nz