If you count the number of times you use or hear this word on daily basis you will be astonished.  It has not only become a part of our life, but for some of us stress has started determining entire life. Things like, am stressed I can’t study/focus or am stressed I can’t enjoy a nice movie with my spouse, are expressions we hear every day from our neighborhood.

But if we go a bit deeper level, one thing we understand is that everyone is stressed isn’t it? And we have learnt to assume that it is normal to be stressed. I mean if you are a student you are stressed about studies. If you are working, there is work related stress about appraisals, promotions, conflict, bad boss, job change etc.  If you are married or unmarried you are stressed and when you have or not have a child, you are stressed.  Just imagine how this word alone has literally taken over all our life.  Am sure you will agree if I say, it is okay to be a bit stressed sometimes, it helps us to prepare better. For example, if you are stressed before a job interview it helps to prepare better. Bur does it really help, because stress also impacts our physical well-being & what if I haven’t slept properly before my interview. I will be yawning in the waiting area, right.

So just imagine the number of times you take or not take decisions due to stress. For example, you have a review meeting on Monday morning and on Sunday evening you resist going out with family, because you don’t want to be stressed. You want to be left alone over a weekend and not participate in any household chores because you had a stressful week. So, doesn’t this stress impact your quality of life and relationships? The weekdays are for work and weekends is for family and yourself, that’s mostly our agreement with the organization. Yet we carry work to weekends and a relationship issues to our office.

Like I said earlier, stress not only impacts our quality of life but also our moods, behaviors and physical well-being. The common effects of stress are on:

Physical health: Headache, stomach upset, muscle pain, backache, constipation

On mood: Irritable, anger, frustration, lack of motivation, restlessness.

Behaviors: Overeating or undereating, anger outburst, lack of sleep & exercise, alcohol /    tobacco use or even binge watching.

Am sure you will agree, that google and smart phone can definitely help you to find ways and means to manage stress. But do we want to manage stress, or we want to train our mind that we do not allow external stimuli to trigger stress or any emotions for that matter.

Think about it. Do you want to manage stress or train your mind?