Warning: “Stress can cause severe health problems and, in extreme cases, can cause death.”

Dear friend,

September is ending, and I had been pondering a topic on which I’d write. I had a busy month preparing for tons of things ahead of me and I knew I had to make time for this newsletter. We always make time for things which advance our interests, visions and goals.

I was getting a massage when my Christian Japanese masseuse, Nozomi, squeezed my shoulders and remarked, “You have been spending much time on the computer lately, and your shoulders are stressed.”

“Yes, I have been writing a lot, and there are other things I need to wrap up before October.”

“Just remember, keeping your mind, body and spirit balanced is very important,” she reminded me, while placing a few hot stones on my body.

I was extremely relaxed and my creative juices began to flow. The Japanese have been using hot stones, massages, exercises, and a healthy diet to remain productive and manage the quick pace in life and the stress that comes with it. After finishing the massage, I knew the topic would be “stress management”.

Stress is something we have all experienced at some point in lour lives. In our hectic world, it is easy to get trapped by busy schedules or be consumed with things happening around us. These can cause enormous stress and maybe even take control of our lives.

Stress is a condition or feeling experienced when one perceives that “demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize”. If stress takes control of our lives, it will hinder our productivity, or worse, affect our health. A friend, Dr. Ceabert Griffith, writes in his book, “50 Ways to Control Migraines”, “Stress can cause physical and biochemical reactions in the body -the so-called “fight or flight” response - that mobilizes the body to confront or flee from danger. Like stress, anxiety, frustration, and anger can cause the body to secrete adrenaline that can narrow blood vessels and precipitate a migraine flare-up”.

Here, Dr. Griffith discussed migraines and that stress may cause us to constantly have headaches. Likewise, other parts of our bodies are negatively affected when the stress in uncontrollable. The good news is, like other challenges we face, there is a way of minimizing and avoiding the negative stress that might endanger our lives. Here are some suggestions.

Stress Management Skills

1. Action-oriented skills: Here, we seek to confront the problem causing the stress, often changing the environment or the situation. We can change the situation by possibly taking some of these actions: 1. Time and resource management 2. Delegation of tasks and rearranging our priorities 3. Setting realistic expectations 4. Resting 5. Exercising 6. Eating a healthy diet.
2. Emotionally-oriented skills: Here, we do not have the power to change the situation, but we can manage stress by changing our interpretation of the situation and the way we feel about it. Prayers and counseling can be very helpful as well spending time with people that will encourage you in a positive way.
3. Acceptance-oriented skills: Here, something has happened over which we have no power or emotional control. Our focus must be on surviving the stress. Know that things happen for a reason and don’t allow feelings of helplessness to dominate in the situation we don’t have control over. Trust God and let go. Learn and grow from the experience and handle it positively no matter how difficult or hopeless the situation might look.

Dear friend, there are more skills and techniques one can use to minimize stress. I hope the three listed will be useful. If you have stress that will actually motivate you to wake up and get things done, then use that extra energy to accomplish something. But if your stress is of the type that will steal all your energy, act now and get rid of it.

You can order Dr. Griffith’s book on Amazon, ISBN 0-658-02157-5

Special thanks to MIMI magazine for choosing me again for their list of “hot 21 Inspiring Africans”. It encourages me to do more. As Edith Wharton said, "There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candles or the mirror that reflects it. To view MIMI current article, visit http://www.mimimagazine.com/september2006/02-06-ratedhot04.html, also don’t miss their October issue as they feature me in their October Cover story.

Till next time, peace and purpose