Ten Qualities You Must Develop to Make Stress Work for You

Stress can present itself in several kinds of situations, whether from minor daily hassles such as running late for work or significant stressors like financial issues. According to ABS NHS, 2.4 million Australians above 18 are dealing with the repercussions of stress. Furthermore, this ratio has increased by 12% since 2015, showing that things only seem to be getting worse.

Therefore, it is essential to develop personal traits and qualities that help manage stress and make the best of a bad situation.

So, let’s explore some of the tips on how to make stress work for you instead of against you.

10 Qualities You Need To Work Around Stress

Here are the ten qualities that you should adopt to get the best out of a stressful situation:

1. Self-Awareness

Stress always attacks us when we come face-to-face with things we have no or little knowledge of. It exposes weak points, raising self-doubt and uncertainty. So, instead of waiting for stress to go away, learn how to work with it. Believe that you are strong enough to overcome any stressful situation. Then, as you accept that stress is the reason for your negative thoughts, you can work around them.

2. Establish Priorities

Stress makes you panic, and as a result, you cannot focus on critical tasks. Therefore, you need to ascertain which urgent tasks require your immediate attention. So, establish the priority of every job to avoid getting absorbed by stress and not getting any work done.

3. Strategizing

Constant exposure to stress lowers self-esteem and causes multiple issues such as low-performance levels, difficulty maintaining relationships, social withdrawal, and distorted body image. Moreover, reacting impulsively in stressful situations creates more stress and complicates the entire situation. Therefore, it is vital to strategize every task and tackle it accordingly.

4. Take Help From Others

Stress limits your thinking and problem-solving qualities. So, when you take help from others, a new perspective gives you a unique solution. Additionally, you learn others’ problem-solving processes and use them in the future to improve problem-solving skills.

Moreover, having supportive people around you is linked with a reduction in stress and burnout.

5. Welcome Positivity

Stress is directly linked with negative thought processes. You cannot find positive outcomes of stressful situations with a negative mindset. So, whenever you start thinking negatively, you need to stop those thoughts and focus on the positive.

You will think of better ideas and quickly solve the stressful situation when you do that.

6. Learn To Say No

Many times we welcome stressful situations even when we can avoid them. As we don’t know when to say no, we become responsible for more than we can handle. That is why you should learn when you have to say no in your professional and personal life. If you take on more responsibilities than you can handle, it will raise your stress level. So, identify your limits and work hard to maintain them.

7. Acceptance

Sometimes, the source of the stress is unavoidable, and you cannot control or change it despite your best efforts. Therefore, you need to accept it and not blame yourself for it. Moreover, it would be best to focus on what you can control.

For example, if you are stuck in traffic and running late for work, you can change your route the next day instead of panicking or belittling yourself. In addition, you can use this opportunity for personal growth. Remember, just because you accept a situation doesn’t mean you need to like it. Acceptance means that you do not let a condition negatively affect you and your thought process.

8. Challenge Yourself

One often experiences stress when faced with new situations. So, instead of allowing them to send you in a downward spiral, you can see them as a challenge. You have to remember that a monotonous life is not a good life. You need new things to break the routine and bring change. So, take every curveball as a challenge and turn a stressful situation into a unique learning experience.

9. Track Your Stressors

You should keep track of your stressors and their effect to figure out what negatively impacted you. This way, you can create a strategy for dealing with them. For this, make a journal and write all the situations that stressed you out. Also, record your thoughts, feelings, and reactions to the problem. These notes will help you track which conditions are your triggers. So, you can work on altering your stress response for those.

10. Recharge

Stress affects our mental and physical health. Despite stress management, some stressors can take their toll, causing burnout. To function at the pre-stress level, you need to take some time to recharge. So, you need to remove yourself from the environment that causes stress and take a little vacation. You will start performing to your full potential with a bit of time off. Moreover, with a relaxed mind, you can better handle the stressors.

Benefits Of Stress Management

Even though stress is commonly perceived as bad, it boosts brainpower and cognitive abilities. Good stress management increases performance. It heightens alertness and allows you to process a lot of data in a short time. Stress management also improves memory by promoting stem cell growth, later converted into brain cells.

Moreover, stress teaches how to avoid or manage a similar stressful situation. So, next time you have an identical issue, you already have the tools to handle it successfully.

Effects Of Uncontrolled Stress

Our body creates the stress hormone ‘cortisol’ due to the internal ‘fight and flight’ response. This response protects us by preparing us to react quickly to physically harmful situations. However, constant exposure to stress results in physical and mental health issues. If you don’t use stress management tips, you can fall victim to:

Mental Disorders

High-stress levels emotionally exhaust you, leading to multiple mood disorders such as depression, anger, and irritability. Moreover, stress raises anxiety levels, making you vulnerable to various anxiety disorders.

Cardiovascular Disorders

Stress hormones directly attack your respiratory and cardiovascular systems. When stress hormones are activated, your body quickly pumps blood to supply the oxygen-rich blood rapidly to the body. This can be a problem for asthma patients, making breathing harder.

Moreover, rapid blood distribution raises blood pressure, increasing hypertension, stroke, and heart attack.

Digestion Problems

Under high stress, the liver starts producing high glucose to give the body an instant energy boost. However, if you suffer from multiple stress episodes, your body can’t absorb the extra glucose, increasing your risk of type 2 diabetes.

In addition, stress raises stomach acid levels, exposing you to heartburn, acid reflux or constipation, nausea or vomiting, and stomach ache. Stress also makes you vulnerable to ulcers and causes existing ulcers to worsen.

Weakened Immune System

Stress hormones are good for the immune system in the short term as they stimulate healing and prevent infections. However, exposure to stress for a long time weakens the immune system and lowers your body’s protective response to foreign bacteria.

Eating and Substance Use Disorders

Chronic stress or high-stress levels cause people to eat too much or not enough. This imbalanced diet can lead to bulimia or anorexia nervosa. Due to stress, many people also start abusing alcohol and drugs, which are bad for overall health.

Reproductive System Problems

Due to constant exposure to stress, the male reproductive system may stop producing testosterone or produce minimal quantities. Lack of testosterone decreases sperm production that can lead to impotence.

In females, stress affects the menstrual cycle causing irregular, heavier, or painful menstruation. It also magnifies menopause symptoms such as depression.

Conclusion

Stress is a part of life, but if it stays unmanaged for long, it causes multiple health issues. However, if you obtain certain qualities, you can significantly benefit from any stressful situation. That is why you need to learn the tips on how to make stress work for you, so you give your best performance even under challenging conditions.