Identifying
Stress and Its Causes
...and doing something to fix it
Woke
up this about a half hour ago with this page trying to write itself
in my head. So I'm at least writing an overview of my thought,
so they don't escape (as undocumented thought flutterbies seem
to do.) So if this is somewhat scattered... bear with me. As useful
points pop up while I'm writing I'm separating them from the text.
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Point
1.
Pay
Attention
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To
define a cause of stress you have to be paying attention.
I always wanted to just not have it..to play ostrich with
my head in the sand...and ignore unpleasant feelings (and
happenings). Guess what: The best defense really is a good
offense -- and if you ignore the enemy at the gate, you
lose!
Stress
itself is not an enemy -- The opposite of stress is dead.
But it must be balanced with peace of mind.
If
you don't notice your own personal stressors, you can't
analyze them (and I do mean you, not a shrink* -- a shrink
can't be with you when most of your life is happening --
nope not even if you are married to one!) Be aware, that
YOU are who you take to the shrink's office with you
_____
*Note
that this is not to say "don't go to a shrink."
Some of them are truly wonderful and I probably would no
longer be on the planet were it not for those who have helped
me over the years.
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The
Stressor I'm Most Familiar with Right now-- in this moment. Is
the only one I can really deal with at the moment.
The
fact that I have an appointment about 120 miles away this afternoon,
means that there is a conflict here between my desire to share
my insights and the ongoing stress that time adds to every task
in our modern world. And since my laptop is broken, if I don't
write it now, I'll lose it.
What's
a gal to do?
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Point
2.
Analyze
What's Happening
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One
cause of stress is "conflict of interest." I wanna
do what I wanna do and I wanna do what I said I was gonna
do and the teleportation device isn't working.
A
second is letting the stress run us, so we don't make intelligent,
rational decisions.
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So
I need to apply Point 2, right now, before I go any further, with
writing, packing, driving, or whatever. Oh, another stressor just
popped up. Hunger.
I
need to get that out of the way so I can do my analysis of the
existing problem. Now, my normal reaction to that would be to
grab a candy bar, it's quick, blood sugar rises, fixed, right?
Wrong. That's a setup for another blood sugar drop in a little
bit and it didn't provide any nutrients to the already stressed
bod.
I'm
writing again, while my breakfast is nuking. (A New Englander
sandwich from Bel Air: Turkey, cheese, cranberry mayo, apple slices,
yum! There goes the bell!)
Tummy
now happier; let's do analysis.
- Wanna write this and get it
posted.
- Gotta
do a runthrough of the house for stuff that needs to go in the
garbage (like the plate from my sandwich) and put the garbage
on the street for collection.
- Gotta
pack and get my Crickie cat (who is sitting here demanding pieces
of my turkey) in the car and get ...on the road agin....
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Point
3.
Analysis
Always Starts With a List
And
continues with prioritizing that list by importance to you
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Making
intelligent, rational decisions means separating yourself
from the stress hormones that are trying to run you. Most
engineering types (left brainers) have far less trouble
with this than those of us who operate mostly out of the
right, intuitive, creative side of the brain.
This
is not to say engineers are not creative but their natural
logical bent helps them collect their ducks, get them in
a row, organize them, and then actually implement their
ideas. What a concept.
As
long as all of the stuff is running like a jumble in your
head, running in circles is a pretty good expectation of
results.
So,
You need to make the jumble and circles STOP.
There
are tools! Some extremely simple; some complex.
The
simplest is a pencil and paper. Make a list. Write down
what you see as causing the stress. A computer or a cassette
recorder could also be a means of capturing the stressor
where you can look at it.
If
there were only one stressor occurring at a time (like wanting
to get this written), that's not stress; that's motivation,
fun.
It's
the conflicts that cause the problems.
So
you have to write (I'm going to use that word to cover all
the tools -- and eventually to work with ) down every conflict
that is attacking you about a given subject -- that does
mean you can't solve all your problems all at once -- you
can only make a list.
Then
you prioritize the list in terms of what's most important
to you. Rewrite the list in that order and you have action
items.
Now
this right-brained leaning person learned that from her
engineer brother about 30 years ago, when he took a class
in Management by Objectives and started making her apply
it everytime she came to him to answer her problems.
The
tiny list you see above popped up in order thanks to 30
years of practice. Bigger lists require more work to identify
the problems, determine what's most important, and then
begin to take action in THE ORDER THAT IS BEST FOR YOU.
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So
my list for this morning is up and prioritized.
How
do I resolve the conflicts with the least pain to me and
to those who are expecting me.
1. Write & Post
Simplest solution: Post what I've got done in
the next 15 minutes and make a printout and copy the text
to a floppy so I can work on it from wherever.
2. Trash
Quick 30-minute garbage/trash runthrough (Sorry,
Stephanie, no reading of possible recyclables -- just trash
'em. There'll be more coupons next week) and put the garbage
on the street.
3. Pack
15 minute. .What I forget, I can get duplicates of in
San Jose. The universe is abundant and so are the Dollar Tree
stores, the 99Cents Only stores, and all their wonderful competitors.
.
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Those
of you who know me, know the last 6 month have been
a tremendous transformational (truly life changing)
insight and growth period for me. A smidge of that growth
is already documented here on the site, with at least
250 more pages to come. (I could complain about "oh
my aching fingers, but truth to be told the typing is
what's keeping the arthritis that is sitting there waiting
to eat my fingers at bay.
Arthritis
is a bodily (and emotional) stress and typing is "doing
something to fix it."
Which
brings me full circle to the title of this page.
Identifying
Stress and Its Causes
...and doing something to fix it
To
be continued...
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.
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