The Best & Worst Ways to Manage Stress

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Let’s talk about STRESS.

Whenever I’m working with therapy clients or personal development consultation clients, the one thing that always comes up is “how can I better manage my stress?”  The reason that it seems to be such a popular topic is because we all have stress. We all feel busy, we are all taking care of our families, or we are working hard on our jobs.  Hence, stress is inevitable but the real issue is that we don’t always know the best ways to manage that stress.
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Here are three of the most common ways to manage stress, starting with the least effective to most effective.

Damage Control

This is an approach to stress management that I commonly see however this is not a strategy that I would recommend.  Often, we don’t notice the stress that we are experiencing until its too late or we don’t take the time to properly address it while it's manageable.  When this is the case, we are later forced to manage it after it's already caused damage. This usually comes about when we are burned out, feeling exhausted, or feeling physically, mentally, or emotionally unwell. 

In-The-Moment

This approach might include practicing breathing techniques, doing mindfulness meditation, or any other practice designed to momentarily bring down your stress level.  While this is more effective than doing “damage control,” it is still not the most effective approach to managing stress. What you might notice is that “in-the-moment” stress management feels very effective in the short run but over the course of time, it's not as effective because it may not manage stress in the long run.

Preventative & Proactive 

Being preventative and proactive is absolutely the most effective way to manage stress.  This generally involves practicing healthy habits, lots of self-care, setting healthy boundaries, and a lot of self-discipline.  All of this allows us to build healthy habits that helps to buffer the negative impacts of stress over the course of time.  

In life, we are going to experience stress no matter how good things may feel.  Yet, if we can be preventative and proactive in our approach to manage stress, we will see the very best outcomes when it comes to our personal well-being and development.  

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Are you feeling ready to better manage stress and work toward your personal development goals?  Check out the video below to learn more about personal development consultation and how it may help you in meeting your personal development goals! 

To book your personal development consultation or talk more with Dr. Amber Thornton about personal development, book your FREE 15 minute consultation here.  ​