Practical Steps to Combat Stress of Change
Stressed, dealing with the changes of life, along with huge shifts and the miniature veers. We set the goal to drop weight, and after months of discipline, we hit that goal. What now? Finally, have our finances in a place where we are comfortable, and the laser-sharp focus is no longer required. On the flip side, the secret benchmark to have a family with children by 35 still has not manifested, and you are 36. Add those stresses of accomplishments to the inevitable setbacks that occur in life, which could equal us becoming unhinged. To help navigate these reoccurring events, Elizabeth Millard wrote an interesting article in Experience Life magazine.
Here I will like to extend these steps to help you continue on your fitness journey. Tips to maintaining a balanced life also enable you to help the next people along their journey too.
Step 1: Have continuous goals; there is a period between hitting your target and setting a new target to obtain. To offset those high-low emotional changes, consider having those goals. For example, you got down to your target weight now (after) that, you have a maintained weight goal and have a plan to achieve that. Another example from Millard; you have the goal to purchase your first home, and after going through the process of buying the dream home, already have a plan for the first room you will paint. Having a continuous goal or after that goals help you mentally refocus on the next task at hand.
Step 2: Understand your limitations both, upper and lower; sometimes people understand entirely, what comes with their ambition and therefore fail to ever go after it. More so than negative energy, positive energy has a point that becomes too much to handle or cope with as well. Understanding your limits by utilizing both negative and positive feedback is a useful tool when arriving at your goal. Gratitude helps put things into their proper perspective, be it negative or positive; being grateful helps us become more open to our experiences. Millard noted that when we react negatively to positive changes, that is our upper limit, and knowing such can help reframe any resistance you may be experiencing.
Step 3: Guidance, and success leaves clues; whatever the goal or target you have set, there has been someone who battled through similar circumstances. You may not take their particular route or method of doing things. The sear comfort of knowing you are not alone in the emotions you are experiencing along the process of achieving, and eventually after you have achieved that goal. Again success leaves clues to finding a group, person, or even a book to help keep your head clear is priceless.
Step 4: Give yourself room to adjust; I would like to refer to it directly because it accurately hits home. No matter the transitions, even the most sought-after ones come with some loss or letting go. I would feel ungrateful if I had negative emotions after accomplishing a great feat. However, it is not ungrateful to feel indifferent during a positive life change, just a part of being human. The key here is to embrace the darker energy, write the feelings down, and get the double thoughts out of your head. The mind takes time to adjust to the sudden change even after working on (let's say losing weight for months), the mind will still have its moment to adjust after the weight is long gone. Embracing the darker emotions gives space for us to flow through them.
Step 5: Stay connected; during a time of changes, as opposed to the COVID-19 rules, do not self-isolate. Stay connected with your loved ones in which either way suits your character some people are natural loners I’m guilty of such. Even with the most extreme loner cases, do not completely close yourself off from the love and support of others.
Step 6: Pay attention to what you are feeding your soul; is (the soul) too deep? The point is you may love horror films or drama episodes, but during times of massive transformations, we have to be careful with what we let into our subconscious. Although it is nothing wrong with watching "Friday the 13th" or "Power" however in these moments of transition, maybe opt for some comedy. Laughter is a great antidote for stress work so keep that in mind. Also, take a break from social media, which leads us to the next and final step.
Step 7: Make self-care habitual; you know, get some good sleep, eat whole foods, exercise consistently, or just breathe. We all know, though it is possible to burn the candle at both ends of the stick, it only lasts for so long until you burned out. We really can do more with less when we organize properly and structure our schedules strategically. As with anything managing the stress of change can be practiced, and the best time to practice such a skill is when you are not stressed. Like with fitness, take small steps, take it from Young T & Bugsey- “don’t rush”.
Live life free and stay fit!
J’Nathan Bullock CSCS