It's Getting Better All The Time! Outreach

There are many strategies we can use to manage our stress. But there is no one strategy that will work for everyone in every situation. So in order to manage your stress you must look at the specific situation you are facing and choose a strategy that will work best for you. For example, changing jobs, learning how to relax and learning better communication techniques may be appropriate strategies for one situation, but making diet changes, learning assertiveness skills and exercising may be more appropriate in another. While a person can manage stress in many ways, the one strategy we want to focus on here is the strategy of changing the way we think. Face it—we may not be able to change the situation that is causing us stress, but by changing our thoughts we may be able to decrease the impact of stress on our lives. Take a few minutes to review the list of strategies below and pick the one that works best for you.

Managing Stress—Changing How We Think

1. Face reality. Some things you may not be able to change.
2. Learn to release feelings of anger in appropriate ways before it builds up.
3. Evaluate the things that cause you to worry. Instead of letting your mind focus on the problems, spend some time trying to identify ways to solve the things that cause you to worry.
4. Learn to see a crisis as a chance for change.
5. Learn to see both sides of a problem. Remember every situation may have three sides: your side, my side and the right side.
6. Instead of meditating on negative things, meditate on ways to solve your problem using the Word of God and His principles.
7. Eliminate thoughts that distress you. Challenge negative thoughts that come to your mind. Are those thoughts balanced? Are they accurate?
8. Think about the consequences.
9. Have realistic expectations.
10. Realize you will have to say no sometimes.
11. Realize you will have to make a decision sometimes.
12. Realize you will not get what you want sometimes.