April is Stress Awareness Month…

I honestly just found that out and it has been Stress Awareness Month since April of 1992 (the year I graduated) – wow – on both accounts! Lol

This is an interesting topic.

It has definitely taken on a new meaning since Covid or at least has a more acceptable recognition of Stress since Covid.

It is important to recognize that any kind of stress has an effect on you; mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually and possibly financially.

There are different forms of Stress to me:

Healthy Stress
Toxic Stress
Positive Stress
Negative Stress

It is important to recognize the difference between the them.

Healthy Stress is stress that you can manage – your own stress – work, family, friends, finances – tolerable stress that you have the opportunity to manage; where you can change or make decisions to affect different outcomes, if you so desire…

Toxic Stress is stress that other people bring into your lives based on their decisions that somehow affect you – whether it is small or large, positive or negative. There is very little you can do to change the direction of this stress other than cutting people out of your life, moving, quitting your job, more extreme decisions that have adverse effects.

Toxic Stress is more debilitating, harder to deal with, sometimes harder to recognize just how much it affects you, until you make a drastic decision. Toxic Stress seems to take you out at the knees.

Positive Stress is stress that positively affects your life – it pushes you to do better, be better. It challenges you in a good way. It is still important to recognize this as a stress and check how it affects you.

Negative Stress is stress that takes your life in a negative direction. We have the ability to look into this stress and choose to make different choices or decisions to change this stress in our lives. Some people do and some don’t.

Stress can have a profound effect on our lives. We tend to notice the circles or bags around or under our eyes, or the more physical evidence on our outer being but stress very much effects our inner being, which is what we do not see until we are dealing with major health issues.

For example, heart attacks, strokes, serious illness and when those come, that are life changers.

It is important through life to learn the signs and symptoms of your body, mind, and spirit that are affected by stress and learn how to recognize the stress before it gets too far, and decisions can be made prior to the major life changers…

Here are some links to check out:

https://www.stress.org.uk/national-stress-awareness-month/

https://nationaltoday.com/stress-awareness-month/

https://integracareclinics.com/april-is-stress-awareness-month-tips-to-help-you-cope/

https://mentalhealth-uk.org/blog/8-stress-awareness-day-activities/

https://heartrhythmdoc.com/april-is-stress-awareness-month/

There are also a number of Stress Management courses that you could choose to look into to delve into this deeper – on a personal level but also on a professional level if you are in a management position – it could benefit you with your level of responsibilities and assist the employees under your care to assist them in managing their stress.

No matter how you look at stress, stress is out there. Whether you choose to recognize it or not – it has profound effects on our daily lives and can take a toll.

Make the necessary decisions to recognize the signs and see what you could do differently to lower your stress level! You are worth it!!