Dealing with Stress

Everybody has those days. (Everybody makes mistakes? 50 points if you can name that song reference!)  However, sometimes it may seem like those days become weeks and then possibly even months.  There are many stressors in everyday life.  There are marital stressors, pregnancy stressors, financial stressors, work and family stressors, transitional stressors, legal stressors.  This list goes on and on.  Many times there is very little that we can do to control those things, but the thing that we can control is how we react to those things. 

In Rodney Atkin’s song “Going through Hell” he gives a little advice for those times that aren’t going as planned.

There are various coping methods.  Some more effective than others.  Denial, avoidance, and scapegoating, blaming other people, will never help you in the long run.  However, there are many things that can help you deal with those stressors so that they are just that, just some extra stress in your life, and not a crisis that will affect your whole life.  First take responsibility.  Don’t play the victim.  Second, affirm your own and your family’s worth.  Just because you lost that job doesn’t mean that you are worthless.  Third, balance self-concern with other concern.  There is a balance in all things.  Fourth, be able to redefine those situations in your life.  See things as they truly are.  A flat tire isn’t the end of the world, merely a bump in the road.  Fifth, finding the available resources around you to help you in this difficult time.  If you do these things to help you cope, you will have a more hopeful disposition and be able to go on living life.

However, remember that not all stress is bad.  In fact, it’s necessary.    Without stress there would be very little to motivate us to act.  To read a little bit more about the importance of certain stress in our lives and how to remove those that aren’t necessarily healthy read “Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease” by ElderDavid A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.