The Mt Kenya Times 
By: N. George
Worth Noting:
- This will help you to divert your attention from the stressing condition and focus on what is available in the shelves, the quality, durability and the price of those commodities.
- If you purchase something that you like your level of happiness will be increased due to appreciation of task performed.
- Some common ways of dealing with repetitive thoughts are readjustments of life goals by lowering the expectations from ideal to attainable so that you do not get frustrated for not achieving your targets.
- Boosting your self-esteem can help you reduce rumination by identifying both your strengths and weaknesses.
Coping skills are behavioral patterns that help you to minimize, tolerate and manage stress.
The adaptation to these coping methods improves your resilience to challenging situations which bring emotional and physical tension.
There are three main copying styles namely:
Task oriented
They aim at solving or minimising the impact of the stressful situation.
Emotional oriented
These methods aid to reduce emotional impact without necessarily resolving or providing solution to the circumstances. Not all challenges that can be solved, for such cases where you have no solution you should shift your perspective and try to look at the positive side of the situation and its benefit thereby minimising amount of stress being experienced.
Avoidance oriented
Through avoidance oriented mechanism the affected person applies interruption, disturbance and diversion with issues that are not related to the issues that are causing stress to minimize the severity.
It draws your attention away from the stressing issue. This distraction helps to reduce the magnitude of the stressing conditions. It also helps you to regain energy and restrategise on how to easily manage the situation.
Some of these copying skills include the following.
Taking a nature walk
This helps to strengthen your body muscles.
Interacting with nature helps you to cool down and see things in natural form which is orderly.
A walk helps in circulation of blood in the body.
It also aids in oxygen circulation in your body
If walk is during sunny day, the ultra violet rays will aid your body in synthesizing vitamin D.
Playing your favourite music
This helps you to relax
You will learn copying mechanisms through listening to the tunes that captures your topics of interest.
Listen to music will disrupt stressful thoughts
Music can also help to remove unwanted feelings from your head
Going for shopping
This will help you to divert your attention from the stressing condition and focus on what is available in the shelves, the quality, durability and the price of those commodities.
If you purchase something that you like your level of happiness will be increased due to appreciation of task performed.
Reading a book or watching a movie
Taking a book and going through it will help you enjoy a different world from your current stressing world as your feelings will be guided by contents in the book.
If the book contains ways of overcoming challenges, the information will assist you to come up with better stress management techniques.
If the book is lengthy by the time you complete reading it, you will have regained enough energy to deal with the previously stressing issues.
Watching a movie will have similar impact to reading a book in addition the movements in the movie will easily draw your attention away from stressing issues.
Writing a letter or calling a friend.
Speaking or writing to a friend will help you to pour out the stressing issues from your head and refresh
If you discuss with your friend on what is disturbing you, you may be offered a solution or a strategy to minimize the effects of the stress.
Attending household chores like cleaning of utensils or cleaning the house.
The attention can be diverted from the pressing issues by doing chores like cleaning. Through this you will be able to appreciate the results which include tidiness, hygiene and fresh air in the house.
It is also worth noting that when doing these chores your mind will have adequate time to restrategise on the next move
Do not ruminate
This refers to deep thoughts about something which are repetitive in nature and failure to come up with a comprehensive way to solve the matter at hand.
You should avoid ruminating as it will add more stress to you and this is dangerous to your mental health by interfering with your problem solving skills and promoting negative moods
Some common ways of dealing with repetitive thoughts are readjustments of life goals by lowering the expectations from ideal to attainable so that you do not get frustrated for not achieving your targets.
Boosting your self-esteem can help you reduce rumination by identifying both your strengths and weaknesses.
Word collages
Write down on a paper the emotion that is disturbing you. On the same paper and page alongside and around the written down disturbing emotion write the words that you associate with that emotion. This will help you to empty all the emotions that are in your head about the disturbing matter thereby minimising the stress.
Visiting a therapist
In case you are stressed and you visit a therapist he or she will listen to you and ask you questions related to the matter raised and thereafter guide you on different methods to minimize effects of stress issues like how to focus on your strengths and how to improve your weak points .
The therapist will help you to do what is beyond your own understanding.
Writing a letter to those stressing you
This will aid you to remove the stressing thoughts from your mind. It will also act as a deterrent for them from repeating that stressful causing behaviour. If they heed to your instruction the supply line of stress will be cut off and you will enjoy the stress free life.
Keeping yourself busy
By being busy you will be distracted from over dwelling on the stressing matter. This will help you minimize the amount of stress and also give you adequate time to think of the best approach to solve whatever is stressing you.
Relaxation
This will aid your body organs to calm down, improve blood flow in the body system.
It will also help you refresh and rethink the best solution to use in overcoming what is stressing you.
Reframing
This involves changing the perspective of looking into the activity which is stressing you.
It requires you to see the benefits and solutions of the issue stressing you.
Being optimistic
Optimism requires you to see the bright side of life. Expect success in your undertakings. Positive thinking brings happiness into you minimising stress.
We should aim at operating at optimum levels in life and enjoy living. To achieve this it is important that we keep adjusting ourselves to fit well in the ever changing world.
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