Life is full of ups and downs, hills and valleys. Everyone wants to have a cherished childhood, smooth school life-fulfilling career, a loving family; generally, have a good life. But that is not always the case.
Life can be unfair taking turns you wouldn’t have imagined throwing you in a place you were not ready to be. At this juncture, you feel you are done with life and all alone. You end up feeling sad and useless like you are neglected.
Stress emanates from situations involving hopelessness. It’s brought about by overthinking issues affecting a person’s life. Many people suffer in silence.
Students in college face a lot of pressure and stigma. Some students join college when they are innocent, but in a bid to keeping per to the expectations from parents, friends and other fellow students, they exercise extremities that end messing them up.
The pressure to study and at the same time find time for other extra curriculum activities is very high leading to stress accumulation.
Of course, not only students will suffer from stress, working adults may feel the stress and suffer the consequences as well.
This is especially true for adults who are in debt and having a huge pressure at work and from the family.
When life is not happening as what you expected, then the stress will come.
Stress is what brings about depression. Below are some ways to help you overcome stress:
1. Identify what is causing stress
Finding the root cause of your problem is the first step to depression recovery. You may even solve the problem after finding its cause was adaptable.
Look for solutions for your problem even from friends. If it is because of your health, ask for sick leave and go home.
Surround yourself with a different environment. Take a vacation and treat yourself right. There exist companies that do assignments online, so you can easily seek help from such as Edusson with your research and take a break.
Sometimes you just need to take a break and get away from what is at hand to relax and recharge.
Identifying the root causes of why you are feeling stress and what makes you stuck in life is the first step to getting out of the rut.
2. Seek professional help
A session with a counselor will go a long way in ensuring that your current condition is under management.
Talking to an occupational therapist provides secrecy, and you may find speaking to a person who knows you not more comfortable if you are a person who values privacy.
It may surprise you how quickly and near a solution can be for a problem seeming mountainous to you.
Never take stress lightly. If you are suffering from chronic stress, it can cause many other health-related problems too.
If you need professional counseling to handle your stress, read this article.
3. Be with family and friends
Take time and visit your family. They offer a shoulder to lean on since they understand you and know you from inception.
Play with your siblings. Hang with friends and do fun activities together; play chess, scramble, go on a date or even do karaoke. These little fun things have a considerable impact. They remind you that life is not always full of stressful days.
Talking to a family member, spouse or a trusted friend feels more personal and fulfilling. The key is to find an ear to express your feelings. You don’t need someone to console you or tell you what to do, you just need someone to share your feelings.
4. Join a support group
Sometimes, sharing your feelings with someone you know may not be ideal. This is where you can join a support group to overcome your stress.
Talking to people having similar feelings, going through a hard time themselves will help you adjust and counteract high-stress levels.
It makes you feel less lonely since a person going through depression feels judged and isolated from the rest of the common folk.
You gain a sense of empowerment and control over your current situation. You get a vivid picture of what happens and what to expect in your case.
A good support group can be a suggestion from your therapist, doctor or close person. Not knowing the members of the support group helps you build your confidence and opening up to talk about your situation.
5. Join activity groups
Some people find solace in working. Therefore, they burst themselves doing the work that is even giving them stress as a coping method. It is not right.
Find an activity to do which is outside your daily scope. Join a charitable organization on a voluntary basis for some time. It helps clear your mind and know that your suffering is not the end of the world.
You can always start again and move forward. Keeping your brain pre-occupied will make you shelve the problem at hand for a moment. These activities offer an excellent distraction where you do not talk about your current issues.
6. Find spiritual guidance
Spiritual nourishment is key to stress management and depression recovery. Go to a church, temple, mosque or any religion of choice near you.
Attend sessions in their teachings and speak to the preacher asking him or her on your current situation either directly or indirectly.
You will find a correlation between the stories in the lessons and your current situation. If they triumphed over a situation such as yours then, even you now can do it.
7. Change your mindset
Imprisoning yourself in your mind is a big block to your recovery. You see, thinking that you cannot do something, that you are a failure is a dangerous path to trend.
In schools particularly you find average students hating themselves since they are not as good as their counterparts. If only they could change their mindset to know that they are good in areas other than academics more would change.
Changing of perception is a huge milestone as it can be an obstacle to getting well. You must believe in yourself as a capable and equally gifted fellow.
As the saying goes, “Your thinking shapes your life.” So how you think will affect your life. And if you want to get rid of your stress and get ahead in life, start with changing your thinking.
Find areas you are good at and perfect them instead of dwelling on things you cannot. If you release yourself from the mental bondage, you are opening channels to be victorious.
There are many benefits to thinking positive. And relieving your stress and allowing yourself to see more possibilities are just one of them.
8. Be optimistic
Having a conviction that all will be well is a great way to maneuver through the tides of stress. Positivity can provide the necessary support to go through a situation.
There is light at the end of the tunnel. Put your focus on your goals and work towards making your life better.
When you let go of your negative thoughts, you will start to see the new, fresh, and other possible ways to handle the tough time you are facing.
9. Learn to let go
Some things in this life are just meant to happen. If you don’t have control over a specific problem, let it be.
Pressuring yourself to find an answer leaves you depressed and feeling useless. Instead, try other new things which you can do.
Focusing time and energy on an issue you cannot solve is not wisdom, it is suicide. You are better off without some things or people.
Some people say that you should not quit and I agree, but only to a certain extent. If you know that what you do is not going to get you what you want, perhaps, letting go maybe a wise choice.
There is no point to hold on when what you do is hurting yourself. Unless your action is in alignment with your purpose, you may consider of letting go.
10. Re-invent yourself
Take time to think what you want to achieve in life… finish school, get a job or start a business, get a family or even buy a house.
Companies rebrand when the management changes or they realize that the company’s current course is not profitable.
Find new things to do, get a new job, change school or move out of a neighborhood. This way you present yourself with an opportunity to start anew.
11. Follow your passion
That childhood dream can still be valid. Work towards achieving your goals. Indulge in hobbies like dancing, singing, reading books, traveling, blogging, essay writing among others.
It warrants a feeling of fulfillment and accomplishment and at the same time giving a chance to prove yourself.
I love how Steve Jobs put it:
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”
Thus, whenever you are feeling down, follow your passion and do something that you love.
More importantly, you should consider pursuing your passion on your road to success because your passion is what fuels your energy and motivation.
If you have no idea what is your passion, here are 7 signs that might give you a clue.
12. Do physical exercises
Sports is a great way to relieve stress. Enroll in a gym or get a yoga instructor. Meditation is a proven way to cope with high-pressure situations. Take a walk to the shop. Get fresh air along the way and clear your mind.
Conclusion
Stress is a natural body response to upheavals present in life. It can make you more alert and perform better in certain situations or it can stop you and make you stuck in life. So you can either:
- Use tension as a catalyst to bolt to excellence. This is like turning your hardships into stepping stones so that they inspire you rather than bringing you down.
- Find a balance between work, school, and your social life. Try to get away from the situation when you are feeling stuck. Pursue your passion. And if you still can’t break free from it, perhaps, you should consider letting go.
- Finally, if the above 12 tips are not helping you one bit, you should look for a professional counselor. Reach out and get help from others.
It’s clear that the writer is a statistics
geek. I like how he writes and organizes facts.