Stress Management

     Everyone has to deal with stress.  An overload of stress can cause headaches, acid reflux, sleep issues, depression, heart disease pain and so much more.  Many disorders have an increasingly negative reaction when the body is under stress.  Emotional stress has a physical result.  The challenge comes in how you handle your stress.  An ignorant method most try to use is the "ignore it" method.  I do not recommend you becoming "ignore it" with your problems.  Trying not to dwell on something that causes you stress only masks your stress and does nothing to resolve the physical pain that accompanies the stress.  So what are you supposed to do?  How do you manage your stress when your stress seems overwhelming?  How do you escape the horrible cycle of stress causing pain and the pain causing more stress?

These are my tips I have developed after 18 years of pain management.

Meditation - An act when you focus on your breathe to release your stress and find a calm state.  This is one of my personal favorites.  It does take work and practice to be able to use meditation during the moment of stress.

Confrontation and Change - This can often cause more stress in the moment but can have a long lasting relaxing benefits.  When you confront the cause of your stress you can reflect and change the precipitating factors.  My personal opinion is that you first master meditation then try confrontation so that when you attempt the change you can focus on your breath to remain calm while encountering the difficulties of the process.  Confrontation and Change can have the best long term benefits to managing your stress.

Cry it out and Laugh it out - It can be an added stress when you do not allow yourself to feel.  Giving yourself permission to cry can have healing benefits as long as you give yourself boundaries.  When your emotions over take you take a few moments to cry and admit how tough life is right now.  Don't choke it back.  Sometimes we all need to dwell on how difficult our situation has become.  Afterwards you need to brush yourself off and become determined to find a workable solution.  Next, you need to find humor in your devastation.  Channel your favorite comedian and laugh at yourself.  Laughter is the best medicine.  Researchers do not know if laughter relaxes you because of the resulting positive attitude or it is just having a good sense of humor.  Personally I believe it is the mind set of the fighter who gets up and says "Nothing will knock me down."

Time Out - As a parent we know the miracle of a time out.  The emotionally high strung child can take a few minutes to regain their composure.  When every little thing is building up and seems insurmountable take a cue from the parenting technique and give yourself a time out.  Choose a spot in your home where you can be alone, reflect, and breathe.  Personally I believe this spot should be where you can best Meditate, Confront, Change, Cry it out, Laugh it out, while giving yourself a chance to time out.

Support - The ability to lean on someone else can greatly reduce stress.  Having someone who will just listen to your woes and be a sounding board when you need to vent helps you be able to work out your own problems.  Sometimes you will need someone who can help you figure out what your next step should be.  Sometimes the best support is someone whose opinion that you trust and value who can then tell you to snap out of it.  No matter the type of support you need the person needs to have your best intrest at heart and is willing to face each obstacle life throws at you.  A support group of people facing the same hardships is always a benefit because then you are "United" and have the ability to see each other's difficult situation.  Personally I find it beneficial when I can be someone's support person because I am able to recognize that my pain has purpose by being able to help others.


Unfortunately you can not pick and choose which one is best for you.  To properly cope with the physically depleting  affects of stress you should learn how to use all the methods for the best results.  Each situation that causes you stress will need an individualized approach.  Chronic pain needs your flexibility to use all of these steps.  Sometimes you will need to use them in different combinations.  All of these steps are easier said than done.  Some of these steps need you to change a part of your personality that refuses the concept.  Personally I am in a constant state of evolving and learning how to best use each step.  I am far from perfect at the practice of stress management.  Gandhi, Yogi, and Jesus probably were the only people who truly perfected stress management.  Be forgiving of yourself while learning how to best manage your stress.  Remember, no one is really going to hold it against you if you have a few bad days.  What is important is what you are doing to change how you cope with stress.

Insanity defined by Albert Einstein - Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.