How to manage stress, anxiety

Rutendo Gwatidzo
Changing Perspectives

Stress and anxiety are common experiences of life that can affect anyone at any point in time.

While the two words are often used interchangeably, their meaning is not exactly the same.

Stress is a response to a demand placed on you for example, a work deadline, upcoming exams or a financial strain. Chronic and excessive stress can have negative consequences for both physical and mental health.

Anxiety is feeling fear, worry or unease. It can be a normal reaction to stress but can still occur without a trigger. Anxiety is not always focused on a specific thing like stress does. Anxiety can be more generalised and persistent.

Stress can be temporary while anxiety can be persistent however, the two go hand in hand, they are like the two sides of one coin. Symptoms of stress and anxiety can be similar. You need to understand the root cause of your stress or anxiety to be effective in dealing with it.

The interesting part about stress and anxiety is that a lot of times it is caused by things within our control.

In the past two weeks I got into a discussion with trainee graduates who recently got employed and to summarise the discussions, most of them were dealing with stress and anxiety.

Organisational status

One of the challenges in many organisations is that of having teams that operate daily under a great deal of stress and anxiety which becomes one of the regular reasons why they fail to achieve what is required of them.

Stress and anxiety can cause you to lose focus and you can get to miss even the simplest things. A good number of tasks that are deemed to be difficult in the workplace are actually not, it may be that the people who carry out the tasks are not focused.

Management and business owners should invest in stress relief programmes for their employees in the workplace to increase their focus on work assuming that it eventually increases productivity and profitability.

A good number of people think that stress can kill, however, the interesting truth is that stress does not kill. What kills people is their reaction to stress.

Stress and anxiety are a part of life that cannot be eliminated however, they can be managed, relieved or lessened.

Fighting to leave a stress free life can actually cause stress. Be equipped on how to handle stressful events of life bearing in mind that it is our response to what happens in life that brings about stress.

Some tips on how to manage stress.

Healthy lifestyle habit

Regular exercise, enough sleep and healthy eating are some of the ways to living healthy lifestyle. Be deliberate about how you live your life.

Time management

Learning to manage your time effectively prevents you from getting overwhelmed hence it reduces stress. Avoid situations where you wake up without knowing what to do then you find yourself doing anything, anytime and anyhow.

Learn to pre plan your days and to allocate time according. Doing nothing is dangerous. Avoid idle moments. Resting is not similar to doing nothing, it only becomes irrelevant when you take time for something else to rest.

Social support

Talk to trusted friends, family members or therapist when going through challenges. Remember, whatever you go through in life, you are not the first and definitely you will not be the last. Do not suffer in silence for fear of judgement, there is nothing new under the sun. Speak out and step out.

Positive vibe

Focus on the positive aspects of your life to improve your mood. The more you focus on the positives is the more you stay in a good mood. This is what you need each and every day to tackle the challenges you come across.

Some of the helpful tips on how to manage stress from other authors.

“Stress is largely self-inflicted, so the ability to manage stress more effectively comes from managing oneself.” – Michael Hetherington

“The greatest weapon against stress is your ability to choose one thought over another.”– William James.

“Do not stress over could have, if it should have, it would have.” – Habits of Wellbeing.

I would like to challenge, encourage and inspire someone to stop stressing and be anxious. If you can change the situation, then go ahead and change it. if you cannot change the situation, then let go and move on.

Rutendo Gwatidzo is the Managing Consultant at The HUB HR Consultancy – as a Culture and Change Management Specialist. She is a multi-award winning leader, Consultant, Speaker and Coach. She is also an author of “Born to Fight” and “Breaking the Silence” books.

Feedback: 0714575805/ [email protected]

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