Stress and Anxiety Management In Human Beings

Stress comes with being human. We all feel it. Young or old, rich or poor, whether society sees you as successful or unsuccessful, stress comes along for the ride.

Stress doesn’t just happen when you are frustrated or struggling with something bad. Stress can also happen when you are successful, like when you get a promotion, plan a wedding, have a new baby, plan a vacation, host a family gathering, etc., etc.  It can even happen to you body at seemingly neutral times, such as when you change time zones, go on a new diet, get a cold, exercise more than your used to, etc.

Of course, stress happens when you don’t get what you want and during hardship. For example, it happens when you don’t get the promotion you wanted or during the loss of a relationship, valued object or situation. Stress also happens when you are trying to achieve something you want, like when you are working hard to graduate school or be liked by others in a community. In other words, it can get you coming and going.

The thing about stress—which has been known for thousands of years—is that it is not about what happens to you. It is about how you react to it. In other words, psychological stress and to a certain extent physical stress comes from the inside.

For instance, two people can experience and react to the same situation in very different ways. Studies have shown that when someone maintains an optimistic attitude, or holds on to compassion or at least some degree of empathy or when they keep perspective, they are not as stressed out if at all. This is compared to those who are pessimistic, angry and resentful or so focused on the stressor that they lose perspective.

Perspective is huge. It may be at the root of all the strategies to avoid stress. Seeing a temporary stress in the light of the rest of your life, for instance, so that you can say, “this too shall pass,” is a powerful and time-honored skill. That is what underlies optimism and hope.

Perspective has many other forms as well. It comes to the forefront when dealing with a difficult person, for instance. Being able to see them as the troubled person they really are, with compassion or at least empathy, gives you perspective.

Perspective also happens when you see your difficulties with the ultimate perspective of your existence. In other words, when you can experience the incomprehensibly rare and miraculous fact of your existence, that gives you gratitude, profound appreciation, for each moment of your life. With that intense level of perspective, there really is no storm you cannot weather; there is no one and no thing that can stress you.