As professional businesswomen we often loathe to admit that we are just not coping as well as we would like. However, saying: “Yes, I need help” can sometimes be difficult. Everyone sees you as a very strong, capable, reliable, independent woman. You deal with each new crisis or challenge in a cheerful manner, seemingly with boundless energy and enthusiasm. Little do they know that underneath lies a pressure cooker steaming away. One more crisis and the lid will blow sky high. This professional image, our mask, can sometimes be our undoing. Stress is our individual response to various external or internal trigger mechanisms. Each person’s capacity to deal with pressure is very individual. Dr. Isaacs, of The Stress Solution, states that stress is a feeling of being out of control and a sense of not having enough time. However, people respond to it in various ways because their emotional make-up is different.
Recognise the symptoms of stress
The first step to resolving stress is to recognise the symptoms, actually take notice of them and then do something about it. Common symptoms of stress include: insomnia, headaches, heartburn, back-aches, peptic ulcers, cramps, indigestion, lack of concentration, loss of memory, anxiety, unjustifiable fears, quick to cry, quick to anger, excessive worry, racing mind, recurrent colds and flu, loss of appetite, compulsive eating, irritability, fatigue, dizziness and breathlessness. Some of these symptoms can trigger low self-esteem, depression, physical illness, total mental breakdown, burnout and chemical dependencies. If you find yourself reaching for the coffee, sugar, cakes, cigarettes, alcohol, antacids and pain killers, then something is amiss. When you notice that you have given up exercising because you don’t have time, you are constantly rushing here and there, and feel frequently exhausted, it’s time to take action. Many women work long hours, don’t eat, exercise or breathe properly, go to bed exhausted and wake up unrefreshed. They accept this low quality of existence as being normal. It may well be, but is it acceptable?
Admit you need some help
The second step to resolving stress is to admit that you need some help. Businesswomen seek advice from their accountants, lawyers, bankers and marketing and advertising experts about the financial health of their business. However, when the real health and wellbeing of their physical business, themselves, is in jeopardy, they just keep struggling along, often making it much worse than need be.
Implement some lifestyle changes
The third step to resolving stress is to implement some lifestyle changes, simple techniques which can be incorporated into daily life. These simple lifestyle change techniques include:
- Eating properly – everyone needs to incorporate more fruit and vegetables into their daily eating plan.
- Exercising – walking five times a week for 30 minutes at a brisk pace is sufficient.
- Relaxing – this doesn’t mean having a bottle of wine to calm down, it means being able to let go of the day and give the mind some space. Muscles can be trained to do this easily.
- Breathing – people often don’t realise that retraining your breathing habit can greatly improve wellbeing.
Ninety per cent of the time we breathe incorrectly. Simply changing this one aspect can change your life for the better.
Seek help to eliminate the causes of stress
The fourth step to resolving stress is to seek help at eliminating the underlying causes. At the core of all stress-related illnesses are emotional issues which are the result of repressed or unexpressed negative emotions. When we hold these inside, all kinds of physical and mental symptoms can appear. To resolve stress permanently rather than merely managing the symptoms, the negative emotion needs to be released. Relaxation-based techniques can access parts of the brain to help facilitate that emotional release. This can be done privately and gently without re-living the drama and traumas of previous situations. Imagine experiencing better, more peaceful sleep, a balanced metabolism, emotional harmony, professional efficiency and a sense of wellbeing that imparts confidence and a renewed zest for life. Stress resolution involves treating the individual holistically. In order to be able to activate passion and joy so that you can reach your full potential, the wellbeing of a person needs to be addressed from the physical/health, emotional, mental, environmental and intuitive/creative levels of wellbeing.
