Managing Oneself

There are many definitions of Stress but it is important to recognise that Stress is our own experience. Each one of us responds to a bad day; a rough personal crisis or a prolonged emotional strain in a different way. Events leading up to one person's headache may simply tap another person on the neck. An emotional reaction for one person may be chronic insomnia whilst for another it might be a sensitive or upset stomach.

Positive Stress pushes us to achieve our goals and stimulates our imagination causing us to become more productive, creative and dynamic. We all need challenges but if we are to perform at maximum potential our goals must be both realistic and achievable. Increasingly however, many individuals are becoming aware of the impact that too much pressure [and inappropriately handled] can have on their performance and on the performance of their colleagues.

Stress can affect us in any area - we are as likely to experience symptoms of stress in our bodies as in our emotional reactions, our mental state, and our relationships with others and even in our spiritual life. There is now widespread agreement within the medical and scientific world that there is an emotional component to all the physical problems we experience. It is also important to bear in mind that each person's environment or situation will be different and include factors such as - where we live; where we work and what it consists of; our families/ conditioning/ genetic inheritance; our education and belief systems; our personality type; our attitudes to life; our expectations of ourselves and of others, etc., and these factors can impact more on one person than on another when it comes to experiencing Stress.

So in a safe one-to-one environment the client is helped to speak about what stresses them; to use that awareness to learn more about themselves and to use this knowledge for change. They are helped to see how their input into a given situation may have contributed to the Stress and they are facilitated to make small but significant steps in regaining control of the situation. Much Stress is caused by fear of the unknown or by fear of other people's opinions of them and/or their actions and through helping the individual to confront their fear and to create standards by which they can judge their own behaviour, they are enabled to like themselves better; to approve of and be comfortable with themselves and as a result reduce the stress in their lives. Where appropriate practical assistance in respect of relaxation techniques; exercises; diet etc. is also offered to the individual.

In many cases it is the lack of assertiveness skills in our day to day living, whether it is in our working life or in our personal/ social life, that contributes to Stress and getting a handle on our behaviour is therefore very important. Where appropriate and in advance of stress counselling the client is helped to identify which is their current dominant or principal style - Submissive - Aggressive or Assertive and are then facilitated in becoming more assertive in their work or personal life environment.

For more information click on one of the options below.

Managing Stress
Managing Oneself
Stress Workshops