Can You Get Rid of Stress?

Everyone says they want to eliminate stress, but is it really worth eliminating?

A stress free life could get boring (many positive life events can be very stressful).

But beyond that, stress can have benefits.

Even if we could completely eliminate stress (which we can’t), I don’t think we should. Feeling stressed about something shows it’s important to you - it highlights your values. At the right levels, this feeling of stress can provide motivation to put extra energy toward those things you value. When managed well, stress can actually lead to growth. The key isn’t eliminating stress, it’s getting it into manageable areas where you can channel it for growth.

So the real question becomes, “How do I keep stressors from becoming too stressful?”

Tips For Managing Stress

These 10 tips will help keep your stress levels in check so you can feel, and function, better:

Learn and practice tools for calming your body and mind. Tension and racing thoughts suck up your mental and physical energy, making them stressors in their own right. Top tools for this include:
- Breathing exercises
- Relaxation exercises
- Mindfulness
Make a list of your current stressors and divide it into things you can and can’t control.
Make a plan for how you’re going to address the things you can control.
Learn to radically accept the things you can’t change. You don’t have to like it, or even approve of it, to accept it. You just have to admit it’s happening.
Set realistic expectations for yourself and others. Unrealistic expectations are a recipe for stress and frustration.
Get support. This might mean getting help doing things, it might just mean having someone to vent to. Whatever it means to you, don’t try to do it all alone.
Work on communication. Most people aren’t as good at communicating as they’d like to think they are. Trust me, you do need to work on this.
Take care of your body. Eat right, sleep, exercise, limit substance use…you know the drill. An uncared for body is a stressed body. Don’t de-stress today in ways that will cause more stress tomorrow.
Do things you enjoy. Downtime and fun are not luxuries, they are stress relievers and rejuvenators. They give you the energy to keep going and make stressors feel less daunting.
Take it one step at a time. See number 4. Taking on too much at once is stressful, even if those things are designed to reduce stress.

Make sure to practice!

Stressors won’t stop coming, but regularly practicing these tools will help them feel much more manageable! If you’re a person who’s prone to anxiety, keeping your stress in-check will help make anxiety more manageable, too. Anxiety tends to flare when stress levels are high.

For more on anxiety treatment, click here.

Not sure if you’re dealing with stress or anxiety? Check out this blog post.