Expert advice on how to manage stress
You may be suffering from stress and not be aware of it. Here are seven signs that your mental health might be under strain.
We all go through things that stress us out from time to time.
Stress is not necessarily a bad thing. It can be an indication that you are feeling overwhelmed and need to slow down or re-evaluate. An example of stress that is not negative is planning a birthday party for your child. You might want to have everything looking perfect and want the attendees to have a great time. This is not necessarily bad pressure.
Another example is if you are going to do a presentation in front of colleagues or a large number of people, you might be stressed because you want to do a good job. That type of stress can cause you to spend lots of time preparing in order to make sure that you nail the presentation.
However, if you find yourself constantly feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope, you might be suffering from high levels of stress which might lead to other health complications.
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Dr Happy Setsiba, a Clinical Psychologist, says there are four things you can do that can help you better manage stress - avoid, alter, accept, and adapt.
She says it is important to avoid triggers that will cause you to stress. This can be people, places or things. Identify what causes you to stress and take charge.
The clinical psychologist says the second step is to alter.
“If you realise that you cannot avoid certain situations because it is not always possible to avoid, alter the way you go about it.”
She says looking at better ways to handle situations or things that can't be avoided is important. Change your strategy.
Dr Setsiba says that it is important to accept that you cannot always have control over things or change them.
“If you start to accept that you can’t change certain things, you will have more options.”
She also says you must know what you can and can't handle and be bold enough to say no to things that you can't handle.
“Know your limits. Know how much you can take. Don’t take on more than what you know you can.”
Finally, she says it's important not to set standards that are unattainable and set unrealistic expectations.
"Sometimes people are stressed not because of the way things are but it is because of the standards that they have set for themselves. Sometimes they set very high standards and have high expectations. If you start adapting to how things work, you start to reframe the way you see things," says the Clinical Psychologist.
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