Don’t go it alone when facing stress

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By Erik Santos, Staff Writer

Stress is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances. Anyone that you know can experience this but some people may take this mental or emotional strain differently from others. About a third of people worldwide were stressed, worried and in pain last year, and more than half of Americans feel pressure and strain.

Just imagine living life stress free and with no worries at all. The world would definitely be a better place for everyone and people would definitely have a better mindset as well. Anyone can experience stress from a variety of different situations. There are also different ways on how they manage to cope with it. Helping others learn how to handle their stress level is the goal.

There are plenty of options to choose from on how to manage the stress someone is experiencing. Some of them can be done on your own or others can be done with the help of your friends or family. However, the options with the help of your friends or family is a more comfortable option since most people who go through stress tend to feel alone. Communicating with someone about your problems is a relief and it makes you feel that whatever you are going through, you are not going through it alone. Having someone to rely on and trust is a huge factor in helping a person’s stress level become less of a problem. With someone’s assistance you may be able to sort through the problem and the person can help you release built up tension as well. They also may identify options or solutions you hadn’t thought of before.

Besides just talking to someone their presence can be a great aid as well. Being with someone while feeling stress and doing different activities together encourages you to be more active and it helps improve your self-esteem. The person also can get the feeling of belonging here and that of course reduces the feeling of loneliness and isolation. Being with another person can help put things into perspective and make you feel more positive, more contented, and a lot more optimism.

“I try to distract myself by hanging out with my friends and family, I try to avoid being alone and it helps me a lot,” said Jaki Hermenegildo who is a senior at Woodstock North High School that goes through stress related problems daily. With the support of others, it helps the person have a more positive outlook about their own circumstances.

In spite of not having someone to talk to you can always manage stress on your own. Do not let the stress take control over you. Avoid letting that happen by getting more rest and sleep and by trying relaxation techniques. Refrain from caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine because those could always lead you to try worse things that are not beneficial to you physically or mentally.

“Literally cleaning around the house helps me as well with just driving around town with the music playing out loud,” Hermenegildo said.

It is the simple things that distract you from having those negative feelings. When in doubt just take a break from everything and make more time for yourself. Try new things that you have never done before, you never know you might even enjoy it. By managing your stress, you are going to have an increase in concentration, a decrease of anxiety if you unfortunately do have that, and a reduction in pain, whether it is physical or mental. It just overall leads to improved health.

Therefore, do not let stress take over your life. Helping yourself or letting others help you is the option you should always have in mind. Stress is not unexpected bills, a traffic accident, a canceled flight, or getting laid off from your job. Rather, stress results from interpreting those events as dangerous, difficult, painful,  unfair, and/or feeling that you don’t have the resources to cope with them. Do not hesitate to seek support and do not hesitate to try coping with stress on your own either because avoiding it will affect you negatively in the long run. We want more peace within ourselves and we definitely want more positive people out in our world. Help yourself and others because you never know how much you will impact yourself or other’s lives with just a simple consideration of what they are going through.