Alexander Zingman : Self care and Stress Management

What is stress? Stress is made up of stressful thoughts and images in the mind, adrenaline flow and corresponding emotions and tensions in the body. Anxiety and fear are other words over stress. Fear is as natural and healthy a reaction as the pain we feel when we put our hand in the fire.

Fear is a helpful message that says, "Stop! Pay attention! Be careful!" The question is, is there a real danger (imminent), or is it an imaginary danger, like the thought "I will not achieve all this" and the feeling that something terrible will happen if I do not?

Usually, when we talk about stress management, we are talking about ways to get rid of or reduce tension or fear. The only way to reduce fear is to feel safe again alexander zingman says. Fear / stress activates our struggle / flight / freezing response so we can get back to safety.

But what happens when we can not get back to safety, as in our fear of failing to complete dissertations or get degrees; or fear of losing our loved ones; or fear of losing health, etc.? We continue to respond to the fight / flight longer than is healthy for our bodies, so they begin to close to save energy. This manifests as fatigue, tiredness, lack of energy, loss of motivation or depression.

To feel safe again in the face of mistakes and losses, we can take this as inevitable in life and realize that even though they are uncomfortable and painful, they are not dangerous. We have all already survived both. They are like an injury or a disease that we heal from.