10 Ways Stress Affects You (And What to Do About It)
Stress can hit your mind, body, and spirit in many different ways, and it can be hard to figure out where exactly it’s coming from. Stress can also creep up on you gradually over time, with seemingly small sources of stress adding up over weeks and months until one day you realize you’re stressed out! In this article, we talk about 10 different ways stress affects you, plus we offer some advice on how to deal with those stressors in healthier ways to get the most out of life.
1. Puts everything into perspective
Stress will always be a part of life. When it starts to take over, it’s easy to forget how lucky we are. Research shows that just taking some time out of our day—even if it’s just five minutes—to stop and reflect on what we have can help us deal with stressful situations more effectively. After all, a grateful heart is always at peace.
2. Makes me frustrated
If I’m stressed about something, I tend to get impatient and frustrated more easily. This can be a problem if I’m driving, for example—it may cause me to snap at someone in traffic. Or it may cause me to snap at my family because I expect things of them that are unrealistic. Either way, getting stressed doesn’t help anything; in fact, it usually makes things worse.
3. Makes me emotional
Sometimes, stress can be so overwhelming that it becomes difficult to see clearly or rationally. When we’re overly stressed, our brain chemistry is thrown off and we become more emotional than usual—but since our emotions aren’t rational or calculated, we often don’t know how to deal with them appropriately. In these cases, it helps if you can work out your feelings through journaling or talking with a friend.
4. Makes me forgetful
Before I knew it, I had left my umbrella at work. My mind was so preoccupied with deadline tasks and bill payments that I completely forgot something as basic as an umbrella. If you’re experiencing stress on a regular basis, it’s important to learn how to manage your thoughts and emotions better and develop healthier coping strategies. Here are some healthy ways you can help reduce your stress
5. Makes me feel ill
In my first venture, December was a very stressful time for us as a business and personally with the busyness of the season. I would notice weird rashes on random body parts… Completely unexplainable and would seem to disappear as we moved into the new year of January…When we’re stressed, our bodies immediately want us to find a way out of our current situation—and you just don’t know how it will show up.
6. Makes me less productive
Time is money, and when you’re stressed, you might not be functioning at your peak level. The National Institute of Health’s research shows that when we’re in fight-or-flight mode, our body diverts blood flow away from our brains and toward our muscles. But we need a clear head to make logical decisions. If you’re feeling stressed and want to get things done, here are some ways to manage stress so it doesn’t impact your productivity
7. Creates fear in my life
As much as I try to pretend it doesn’t, stress has a negative effect on my life. I know that some of my actions are actually caused by stress. And that causes me even more stress! If I keep ignoring how stress is affecting me, it can get so bad that it could be harmful or dangerous. When I ignore how much stress affects me, I also miss out on an opportunity to do something about it and make positive changes in my life.
8. Creates anxiety in my life
One of the most common effects of stress is an increased level of anxiety. When you are under stress, your body produces more adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones raise your heart rate and blood pressure, which can trigger feelings of panic or worry. Of course, high levels of anxiety will also make you physically ill, so finding healthy ways to cope with stress is essential for leading a healthy lifestyle.
9. Creates worry in my life
One way stress impacts me is through worry. I worry about a lot of things throughout my day, but there are also many that I forget about as soon as they come up. My mind will automatically go back to a worry, even when it isn’t something that is currently relevant in my life. Sometimes, these worries will resurface when there is no reason for them to be in my thoughts anymore and cause me anxiety just from how often they have been bothering me lately.
10. I want to learn self-defense!
Many people want to learn self-defense because they are afraid of being assaulted. Others wish they could defend themselves in case of an attack. Still others desire combat skills for their own sake, believing them to be fun or helpful in other ways. No matter what your reasons are for seeking out self-defense training, there is a right way and a wrong way to get started! The key is to start small, be self aware “enough” to recognize the stress drivers and remember that we can only control what we can control…
I tell our tribe of fellow blacksmiths that we simply need to “win the day”… and remember, it takes a village so find your tribe and unleash your potential.