You likely live a very busy life and have become used to that way of living. When that busy life starts to feel like a juggling act, then you are using your mental and physical resources in overload. This can result in stress.
This is an overwhelming feeling of things being ‘too much’ in your life. This can occur in many different ways and can be manageable – or ignorable – to debilitating and even become a physical ailment.
What is stress?
As with anxiety and depression, you can have a negative reaction to thinking about or doing something when you are stressed. This is your mind telling you to address it and fix it.
What you tend to do, however, is ignore that. Society has told us that we shouldn’t show weakness and tough it out, but natural instincts will let us know when things are too much.
When ignored, those warning signs will become louder.
At this point, you may develop what is known as burnout. Burnout is when the stress becomes overwhelming, as you haven’t been addressing those warning signs. Your body and mind will then start to slow you down itself.
This can feel like:
- A lack of focus
- Physical and emotional exhaustion
- Feeling physical aches and pains
- A heightened sense of emotions towards standard tasks
- A regular day will seem like too much
What causes stress.
There is an infinite number of causes behind why each individual feels stress. You will be able to handle stress better or worse than someone else. And something that you find stressful, won’t be stressful for another person.
This will never mean that you are incorrect in feeling the way you do. You need to understand your stress levels within your own context. Not based on how others feel towards that task or situation.
The reason is that everyone has had differing backgrounds and experiences in their lives. Taking into account:
- Who you are
- Who your family are
- How you were brought up
- What you constitute as stressful
- What your lifestyle is like
All of these elements make up your stress load and how you react to stress.
How therapy can help you.
Taking all of these causes and symptoms into account, the best way to beat stress is to start at the source. Usually, when you decide to begin therapy because of stress, it is because you are, or almost, at the point of burnout.
At this point, your counsellor will be there to find out not only what is causing stress in your life, but also why you have come to this point in time.
By retracing those tasks and obstacles in your life, you can start to relate to the patterns you are in and how to amend those patterns for the better.
As with all mental health issues the earlier you address it, the easier it is to change. Anyone can manage stress. The first step is accepting your stress levels for what they are and adapting your life and your thought patterns, by doing this you can tackle your life in the healthiest way possible.
How Therapy in London can help.
What we can offer is a select group of mental health professionals who can help you manage your stress, but then also help you to avoid stress later in life.
The benefit of counselling is that your stress isn’t taken at face value, counselling won’t simply lay out how to deal with specific tasks and then wait for the next problem to arise.
Therapy in London counsellors find achievement and success in seeing you learn why you become stressed and what you can do about it to manage it productively in the ongoing future. Within these sessions, your stress can become a beacon in your life that drives you, rather than hinder you.
