How Your Busy Lifestyle is Killing You
5/26/2020 - Author: Jason Cook - Searchlight Christian Organization:
Your life is so busy. I get it. Life isn’t going to stop. You’ve got responsibilities, bills, an endless supply of distraction, but is it killing you inside?
Tom rushed out the door of his workplace on a Friday afternoon. It was a particularly busy and stressful week for him. The boss was on his back about finishing that latest proposal. He spent hours staying late Wednesday and Thursday just to get it done. The other nights were dedicated to dance lessons for his daughter, chores, and family responsibilities.But now...there is TONIGHT. Friday. A wide-open weekend to look forward to. He just needed air and a weekend to reset.
On his way home, Tom received a text from his wife asking him to pick up a few things to bring to the reunion tomorrow. “The reunion.” Tom had forgotten about it. “That kills tomorrow," he thought. A several hour trip there and back was sure to suck up any semblance of what could have been an absolutely beautiful Saturday. “And Sunday is the dance recital,” he thought. Just another day in paradise...
Does Tom’s story seem all too familiar to you? Maybe you have a small business that keeps you hopping. Maybe you are a community leader. Tom’s story could be the same coffee-driven, task oriented, errand-running story that you face. But what is the expense of all this?
Put simply, all this running around is stressful. Take the busy schedule of a parent and combine it with big stresses at work, you have a recipe for burnout or even bigger health problems.
According to Mayo Clinic, stress manifests itself in different ways whether it’s your body, mood, or behavior. Stress can affect your body by showing symptoms like headaches, chest pain, upset stomach, or sleep problems, but where do these symptoms lead?
According to the Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences, author Mohd. Razali Salleh, cites a study that shows approximately 180,000 people in the UK die each year from stress related illness. The US Center for Disease Control reports that 75% of all doctor visits result from stress related causes. According to Salleh, emotional stress is the main factor of the 6 leading causes of death in the US, which include cancer, heart disease, immune system repression, accidents, respiratory illness, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide. So how do you know that you could be going down this road?
Symptoms of Stress
You may experience mood symptoms of stress, which according to Mayo Clinic, could include anxiety, lack of motivation and focus, feeling overwhelmed, angry outbursts, or even sadness and depression leading to overeating or undereating, drug abuse, social withdrawal or even a sense that you’ve lost yourself. Worse yet, these symptoms could snowball into many other dysfunctions that wreak havoc on your life like divorce, job loss, loss of friendships and the list goes on, but thankfully there are ways to fight stress.
Identify and Address Your Stressors
Step 1: Monitor your Feelings
As you go about your day, keep track of anything that makes you feel uneasy, a sense of losing control, angry, sad, or frustrated (traffic, overeating, behavior of others, etc). It might be good to bring along a notepad or use a smartphone phone to record these instances. Do this for just a few days. By the last day, you should have a pretty good idea about how your life, as a whole, is making you feel.
Step 2: Next to each item, I want you to ask yourself the following several questions and answer next to each of them.
Step 3: Now that you’ve come to the understanding of how you can address each issue, you are ready to formulate a plan. In the case of Tom’s story regarding his daughter’s dance classes, he most likely can’t stop dance lessons for his daughter by getting rid of it, but he could alternate the duty of taking her to dance class with his wife (compromise). He could also ask a parent or sibling to bring her to her classes and reserving his presence only for the recitals (avoiding the part that stresses him out). Lastly, he knows he loves his daughter and is very proud of her accomplishments. He reminds himself of how blessed he is to have a daughter who works hard and is so talented. He also realizes that seeing her recitals should be something to look forward to, since his daughter is growing up so fast (finding the positive and replacing the stressor with gratitude and joy).
Meditate Through Prayer and Mindfulness
Science shows that meditation can reduce stress, improve sleep, improve attention, help with chronic pain, reduce anxiety, and prevent depression. With all these benefits, wouldn’t it be worth giving the following a try?
Step 1: Find a quiet place and play low relaxation music. Close your eyes and get comfortable.
Step 2: Take a moment to find your relaxation and start focusing on your breathing. Breath moderately deep, hold for a moment, and then exhale. Whenever a thought enters your mind, acknowledge that thought peacefully, and move back to focusing on your breaths.
Step 3: Once you are somewhat relaxed and are in control of your thoughts, you can begin to find deep relaxation through body scanning. This is where you monitor each body part for tension and release that tension. Start with your toes, ensuring there is no tension. Move to your feet and do the same. Move to your legs, torso, chest, neck, face, and head. If you did it right, you may feel like you are weightless at this point.
Step 4: After 5 to 10 minutes of relaxation, you can continue to do this, or begin guiding your thoughts toward joy and gratitude through prayer. If your thoughts become anxious, release them gently and go back to focusing on breath and positive thought.
Find an Activity You Enjoy
Do you enjoy gardening, hiking, playing hoops, working on projects, biking, or going for walks? Dr. Robert Waldinger of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University claims that as little as 30 minutes of activity per day is like a magic pill for relieving stress.
Step 1: Write down various physical activities you enjoy doing that bring you joy and satisfaction.
Step 2: Next to each item, mark down which activity you would like to do regularly and incorporate it into the routine for each day of the week. If you feel like you are strapped for time, scrap any activities that no longer fit with your lifestyle (watching tv, playing video games, napping), and free up that time for activity. For example:
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursdays:
Fridays:
Saturdays:
Sunday:
Stomp Out Momentary Stressors
Momentary stress can be the most challenging type of stress to deal with. Maybe you receive bad news, maybe your hair just isn’t staying where it needs to and you need to go to work, or you’re in a rush to get out the door and you spill coffee on your outfit. Here are the steps you can take to get through the situation:
Step 1: Take 3-10 long breaths
Take a moment to breathe long and slow breaths so you can gain your composure before freaking out. Leave the room or situation if you have to.
Step 2: Accept that you can’t change that the stressor happened and all you can do is control how you react to the situation going forward. Form a plan and visualize how you would like the outcome to be.
Step 3: Form a plan. I will clean this up quickly, change my clothes, and I’ll be out the door before I know it. My colleagues will understand if I am just a few minutes late when I tell them I spilled on myself. My day will still be great!
Step 4: Follow up with joyful, exciting, and positive thoughts. Overall, picture success! Don’t let the stressor sabotage your day. Think about how successful your day will be or visualize how you will “own the room” with your social prowess once you arrive at your location. Aside from the spill, you were born for this! Go get ‘em tiger. *wink
Keep a Routine
It is well known that sleep and a good diet improve your life. Knowing this, forming a routine can help you keep a semblance of control in your life, which is one of the main reasons we get stressed. Loss of control isn’t easy to handle by any means. Getting enough sleep, eating reasonably, and making sure you build comfort mechanisms into your day (such as compromises and solutions we discussed above) will help you keep your stress low each and every day.
Limit Television, Gaming, and Other Addictions
There is nothing like an activity that allows you to tune out, offering you no real benefit, to suck the life out of your soul. You should ask yourself, “Is the activity worth trading the short hours of my life, my dreams, vision, and goals for? Is this addiction worth all the joy, gratitude, and personal freedom I could gain?” Cutting out this activity will definitely add an indefinite amount of productive time to your schedule, making you feel in control and less stressed.
When I began improving my life with a goal-oriented approach, which I have dubbed the 8 Degrees of Transformation, one of the first things I did was cut out television and replaced it with working on goals, reading, and listening to music while I enjoyed getting caught up on tasks that were in the queue and stressing me out for years. My days went from being a blur of unproductive activity to an endless day of relaxation and focus. This isn’t to say I didn’t have fun. I just had more time to do the things that were ACTUALLY fun like playing games with my family, going for walks, having campfires, and visiting with relatives and friends.
Start a Spiritual Program
Christianity was created for some major stress relieving reasons. At any level, establishing a relationship with the Lord can only help you. Giving you purpose, releasing your anxiety, developing a personal relationship with God, and teaching you how to live a moral and uplifting life are just a few of the benefits Christianity was designed to give you. If all this seems like a lot to take in, 8 Degrees of Transformation could help you begin achieving goals and being more productive in all aspects of your Christian life. You can check out my website at www.searchlightorganization.com for more information.
Get Motivated!
One of the best, and natural, things you can do to limit stress is to become motivated. Achieving goals, becoming the best you can be, getting fit, starting a spiritual program, and squalshing bad habits will help you to realize that your accomplishment is more important and fulfilling than worrying about the little things life throws your way. Searchlight Organization (www.searchlightorganization.com) has many ways to help you take control of your life. You can sign up for our e-newsletter, The Achievers Club, on the website or personally work with Jason, Goal Success Coach, to help you achieve solutions for life.
Author: Jason L. Cook
Searchlight Organization - www.searchlightorganization.com
Copyright Date: 5/26/2020
Sources:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-symptoms/art-20050987
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/09/22/349875448/best-to-not-sweat-the-small-stuff-because-it-could-kill-you
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3341916/
Tom rushed out the door of his workplace on a Friday afternoon. It was a particularly busy and stressful week for him. The boss was on his back about finishing that latest proposal. He spent hours staying late Wednesday and Thursday just to get it done. The other nights were dedicated to dance lessons for his daughter, chores, and family responsibilities.But now...there is TONIGHT. Friday. A wide-open weekend to look forward to. He just needed air and a weekend to reset.
On his way home, Tom received a text from his wife asking him to pick up a few things to bring to the reunion tomorrow. “The reunion.” Tom had forgotten about it. “That kills tomorrow," he thought. A several hour trip there and back was sure to suck up any semblance of what could have been an absolutely beautiful Saturday. “And Sunday is the dance recital,” he thought. Just another day in paradise...
Does Tom’s story seem all too familiar to you? Maybe you have a small business that keeps you hopping. Maybe you are a community leader. Tom’s story could be the same coffee-driven, task oriented, errand-running story that you face. But what is the expense of all this?
Put simply, all this running around is stressful. Take the busy schedule of a parent and combine it with big stresses at work, you have a recipe for burnout or even bigger health problems.
According to Mayo Clinic, stress manifests itself in different ways whether it’s your body, mood, or behavior. Stress can affect your body by showing symptoms like headaches, chest pain, upset stomach, or sleep problems, but where do these symptoms lead?
According to the Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences, author Mohd. Razali Salleh, cites a study that shows approximately 180,000 people in the UK die each year from stress related illness. The US Center for Disease Control reports that 75% of all doctor visits result from stress related causes. According to Salleh, emotional stress is the main factor of the 6 leading causes of death in the US, which include cancer, heart disease, immune system repression, accidents, respiratory illness, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide. So how do you know that you could be going down this road?
Symptoms of Stress
You may experience mood symptoms of stress, which according to Mayo Clinic, could include anxiety, lack of motivation and focus, feeling overwhelmed, angry outbursts, or even sadness and depression leading to overeating or undereating, drug abuse, social withdrawal or even a sense that you’ve lost yourself. Worse yet, these symptoms could snowball into many other dysfunctions that wreak havoc on your life like divorce, job loss, loss of friendships and the list goes on, but thankfully there are ways to fight stress.
Identify and Address Your Stressors
Step 1: Monitor your Feelings
As you go about your day, keep track of anything that makes you feel uneasy, a sense of losing control, angry, sad, or frustrated (traffic, overeating, behavior of others, etc). It might be good to bring along a notepad or use a smartphone phone to record these instances. Do this for just a few days. By the last day, you should have a pretty good idea about how your life, as a whole, is making you feel.
Step 2: Next to each item, I want you to ask yourself the following several questions and answer next to each of them.
- Can I get rid of it?
- Can I compromise with it?
- Can I avoid it or say no to it?
- Can I change it?
- Can I find the positive in it and replace it with feelings of joy or gratitude?
Step 3: Now that you’ve come to the understanding of how you can address each issue, you are ready to formulate a plan. In the case of Tom’s story regarding his daughter’s dance classes, he most likely can’t stop dance lessons for his daughter by getting rid of it, but he could alternate the duty of taking her to dance class with his wife (compromise). He could also ask a parent or sibling to bring her to her classes and reserving his presence only for the recitals (avoiding the part that stresses him out). Lastly, he knows he loves his daughter and is very proud of her accomplishments. He reminds himself of how blessed he is to have a daughter who works hard and is so talented. He also realizes that seeing her recitals should be something to look forward to, since his daughter is growing up so fast (finding the positive and replacing the stressor with gratitude and joy).
Meditate Through Prayer and Mindfulness
Science shows that meditation can reduce stress, improve sleep, improve attention, help with chronic pain, reduce anxiety, and prevent depression. With all these benefits, wouldn’t it be worth giving the following a try?
Step 1: Find a quiet place and play low relaxation music. Close your eyes and get comfortable.
Step 2: Take a moment to find your relaxation and start focusing on your breathing. Breath moderately deep, hold for a moment, and then exhale. Whenever a thought enters your mind, acknowledge that thought peacefully, and move back to focusing on your breaths.
Step 3: Once you are somewhat relaxed and are in control of your thoughts, you can begin to find deep relaxation through body scanning. This is where you monitor each body part for tension and release that tension. Start with your toes, ensuring there is no tension. Move to your feet and do the same. Move to your legs, torso, chest, neck, face, and head. If you did it right, you may feel like you are weightless at this point.
Step 4: After 5 to 10 minutes of relaxation, you can continue to do this, or begin guiding your thoughts toward joy and gratitude through prayer. If your thoughts become anxious, release them gently and go back to focusing on breath and positive thought.
Find an Activity You Enjoy
Do you enjoy gardening, hiking, playing hoops, working on projects, biking, or going for walks? Dr. Robert Waldinger of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University claims that as little as 30 minutes of activity per day is like a magic pill for relieving stress.
Step 1: Write down various physical activities you enjoy doing that bring you joy and satisfaction.
Step 2: Next to each item, mark down which activity you would like to do regularly and incorporate it into the routine for each day of the week. If you feel like you are strapped for time, scrap any activities that no longer fit with your lifestyle (watching tv, playing video games, napping), and free up that time for activity. For example:
Monday:
- Go biking on a local trail.
Tuesday:
- Go for a brisk walk around the block.
Wednesday:
- Learn how to dance with a family member or do an exercise video with a friend.
Thursdays:
- Yard work
Fridays:
- Skip, because you need a social life.
Saturdays:
- Go hiking or biking at a local forest or park reserve.
Sunday:
- Go canoeing or kayaking at a local or faraway lake.
Stomp Out Momentary Stressors
Momentary stress can be the most challenging type of stress to deal with. Maybe you receive bad news, maybe your hair just isn’t staying where it needs to and you need to go to work, or you’re in a rush to get out the door and you spill coffee on your outfit. Here are the steps you can take to get through the situation:
Step 1: Take 3-10 long breaths
Take a moment to breathe long and slow breaths so you can gain your composure before freaking out. Leave the room or situation if you have to.
Step 2: Accept that you can’t change that the stressor happened and all you can do is control how you react to the situation going forward. Form a plan and visualize how you would like the outcome to be.
Step 3: Form a plan. I will clean this up quickly, change my clothes, and I’ll be out the door before I know it. My colleagues will understand if I am just a few minutes late when I tell them I spilled on myself. My day will still be great!
Step 4: Follow up with joyful, exciting, and positive thoughts. Overall, picture success! Don’t let the stressor sabotage your day. Think about how successful your day will be or visualize how you will “own the room” with your social prowess once you arrive at your location. Aside from the spill, you were born for this! Go get ‘em tiger. *wink
Keep a Routine
It is well known that sleep and a good diet improve your life. Knowing this, forming a routine can help you keep a semblance of control in your life, which is one of the main reasons we get stressed. Loss of control isn’t easy to handle by any means. Getting enough sleep, eating reasonably, and making sure you build comfort mechanisms into your day (such as compromises and solutions we discussed above) will help you keep your stress low each and every day.
Limit Television, Gaming, and Other Addictions
There is nothing like an activity that allows you to tune out, offering you no real benefit, to suck the life out of your soul. You should ask yourself, “Is the activity worth trading the short hours of my life, my dreams, vision, and goals for? Is this addiction worth all the joy, gratitude, and personal freedom I could gain?” Cutting out this activity will definitely add an indefinite amount of productive time to your schedule, making you feel in control and less stressed.
When I began improving my life with a goal-oriented approach, which I have dubbed the 8 Degrees of Transformation, one of the first things I did was cut out television and replaced it with working on goals, reading, and listening to music while I enjoyed getting caught up on tasks that were in the queue and stressing me out for years. My days went from being a blur of unproductive activity to an endless day of relaxation and focus. This isn’t to say I didn’t have fun. I just had more time to do the things that were ACTUALLY fun like playing games with my family, going for walks, having campfires, and visiting with relatives and friends.
Start a Spiritual Program
Christianity was created for some major stress relieving reasons. At any level, establishing a relationship with the Lord can only help you. Giving you purpose, releasing your anxiety, developing a personal relationship with God, and teaching you how to live a moral and uplifting life are just a few of the benefits Christianity was designed to give you. If all this seems like a lot to take in, 8 Degrees of Transformation could help you begin achieving goals and being more productive in all aspects of your Christian life. You can check out my website at www.searchlightorganization.com for more information.
Get Motivated!
One of the best, and natural, things you can do to limit stress is to become motivated. Achieving goals, becoming the best you can be, getting fit, starting a spiritual program, and squalshing bad habits will help you to realize that your accomplishment is more important and fulfilling than worrying about the little things life throws your way. Searchlight Organization (www.searchlightorganization.com) has many ways to help you take control of your life. You can sign up for our e-newsletter, The Achievers Club, on the website or personally work with Jason, Goal Success Coach, to help you achieve solutions for life.
Author: Jason L. Cook
Searchlight Organization - www.searchlightorganization.com
Copyright Date: 5/26/2020
Sources:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-symptoms/art-20050987
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/09/22/349875448/best-to-not-sweat-the-small-stuff-because-it-could-kill-you
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3341916/