What do we really fear?
" what will the future bring?" Is the question that most youth ask themselves these days. We don't want to try because we are afraid of failing. We forget that the only way we can predict our future is if we create it. We refuse to let people know that we are scarred, heart broken and scared. We refuse to let the world see who we truly are because we are "SCARED" of the world seeing us as inadequate or a failure. We forget that it's okay to fail a couple of times because only then will we know the joy of winning but we refuse to take chances, forgetting that not taking chances is the worst mistake a man can ever make. You'll continue to live with the fact that you could have tried, you could have made a difference, you could have done something that would have helped but you didn't.
It took me a while to realize that our fear isn't failing but the reaction we get from people each time we fail. We are scared to tell people we failed because of the impression they immediately get about us. We don't want them to see us as failures but what we forget is that each time we fail we better understanding of what we failed and why we failed it.
Sometimes our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate but the fact that we are powerful beyond measure. We want to shrink ourselves because of the environment we find ourselves in. We want to fit into where we find ourselves even though it means bringing ourselves low because we don't want to let other people around us feel insecure. Kenneth Hagin once told a story several years ago about a baby lion that got captured and was growing amongst the sheep. The baby lion started eating whatever the sheep ate and in the process he lost his identity. Each time they went to the stream to have some water and they sight a lion they will all run and hide including the lion because he never thought of himself as a lion because he had lost his identity to the environment. He never saw himself as anything other than a sheep because he was in the midst of sheep. One day, this lion decided to go to the stream to have some water as usual but this time he went alone. He saw his reflection in the water and then he realized that he wasn't different from what he and the other sheep usually run away from ever since then he decided that he wasn't going to run anymore. He went to the other side of the stream to meet the other lions and he became one of them again.
Most people think like peasant . They feel like they are not enough probably because of where they are from or what they do. They forget that people who think like peasants can emerge like kings. It is known that as a man thinks in his heart so is he .
Look at the birds in the sky, they don't have to try to be birds, they just spread out their wings and glide through the air as they were designed to do. If none of them had tried to fly, neither of them could have thought that they were different from the hen or the cock.
Conclusion: we were not created with fear, we are all meant to shine our lights and make impact. It is not just in some of us, it's in all of us. Remember that nothing starts until you start. So stop doubting and start acting. We should always think like winners and act like winners because even though we didn't win, we learned not lost.
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Stress and its management
The term stress was borrowed from the field of physics by one of the fathers of stress researchers Hans Selye. In physics, stress describes the force that produces strain on the physical body. Hans began using the term stress after completing is medical training at the University of Montreal in the 1920s. He noticed that no matter what his hospitalized patients suffered from, they all were under physical stress.In one word stress is a psychoneuroimmunological disorder.
Types of stress
Stress affects most people in some way. Acute ( sudden or short term) stress leads to rapid changes throughout the body. Almost all body systems ( the heart and blood vessels, immune system, lungs, digestive system, sensory organs and brains) gear up to meet perceived danger.
The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (D.A.S.S)
The D.A.S.S and other assessment tools are available to identify aspects of stress such as difficult relaxing, nervous arousal and being irritable are present as well. The D.A.S.S is available to the public online. When choosing specific strategies for treating stress, several factors should be considered * No single method is always successful: A combination of approach is generally most effective. * What works for someone does not necessarily work for someone else. * Stress can be positive as well as negative. Appropriate and controllable stress provides interest and excitement and motivates the individual to greater achievement. A lack of stress might lead to boredom and depression. Stress may play a part in making people vulnerable to illness. A physician or psychologist should be consulted if there are any indications of a company medical or psychological conditions such as heart symptoms, significant pain, anxiety or depression. People often succeed in relieving stress for the short term. However, they go back to their previous stressful thought and behaviors because of outside pressure, long held beliefs or old habits. So to reduce or manage stress, we must look at the combination of some following
Vary your exercise program:
Combining aerobic exercise with strength training . Start slowly. Strenuous exercise in people who are not used to it can be very dangerous. In addition, half of all people who begin a vigorous exercise program drop out within a year. Discuss any exercise program with a health care provider before starting. Start slowly. Just to 10 minutes three times a week can build a good base for novices. Gradually build up the length of these sessions to 30 minutes more.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (C.B.T):
This is among the most effective ways of reducing stress. Examples include:
Listen to music. Music is an effective stress reducer in both healthy individuals and people with health problems. Research has it that listening to soothing music can decrease blood pressure, heart rate and anxiety levels in heart patients
Take long weekends or vacation
If the source of the stress is in the home, plan times away, even if only for an hour or two a week
Replace unnecessary time consuming chores with pleasurable or interesting activities
Make time for recreation
Discuss feelings:
The concept of communication and letting your feelings out has been so excessively promoted parodied that it has nearly lost it's value as good psychological advice. Nevertheless, feelings of anger or frustration that are not expressed in an acceptable way may lead to hostility, a sense of helplessness and depression.
Keep perspective and look for the positive:
Reversing negative ideas and learning to focus on positive outcomes help to reduce tension and achieve goals
Use humor
Research has shown that humor is a very effective mechanism for coping with acute stress. Keeping a sense of humor during difficult situations is a common recommendation of stress management experts. Laughter not only reduces the tension of pent up feelings but it also appears to have actual physical effects that reduces stress hormone levels.
Act rather than react:
We experience stress when we feel that situations are out of our control. It activates the stress hormone and if chronic, wears down confidence, concentration and wellbeing. It is advised that you identify the aspects of the situations you can control and the ones you can't . Typically, you're in control of your actions and responses but not in control of macro forces or someone else's tone , for example ; be impeccable for your 50% and try to let go of the rest.
Take a deep breath
If you're feeling overwhelmed or coming out of a tensed meeting and need to clear your head, a few minutes of deep breathing will restore balance. Simply inhale for five seconds, hold and exhale in equal counts through the nose.
Be your own best critic:
Some 60,000 thought stream through your mind each day and internal negativity is just as likely to stress you out as an external event. The fix? Instead of being harsh and critical to yourself, try pumping yourself up. Encouraging thought will help motivate you to achieve and ultimately train you to inspire others
CONCLUSION: A situation is stressful if it is interpreted as being so. If researchers help a person to recognize what stress is, this will undoubtedly have a positive effect. Infact in teaching people to detect and cope with stress, we think we can reduce this problem in individuals.
DISCLAIMER: All materials used in this content is used for educational purposes only.
No copyright infringement intended.
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