Every one has a stressful life.I found some ways to reduce our stress.I hope you like it.1

1. Identify stressors.

Many people feel totally stressed; some of the emotional symptoms of stress are anxiety, fear, mental pain, frustration, anger, and hopelessness. Focusing on the sources of stress can help you develop ways to better cope with it. Writing down a list of the things that cause you stress is a good first step to reducing stressors. The act of writing down a stressor forces you to acknowledge it as a problem; while some problems cannot be easily resolved, others can be easily removed by focusing on solutions. For instance, if your 6-year old child constantly makes you late several mornings a week because she can’t decide what to wear, spending 30 minutes each Sunday afternoon with her selecting outfits for the coming week will help you to start off the morning with much less stress.

2. Set priorities.

Some people feel stressed because they have just too many things going on in their lives. Since everyone has a limit of only 24 hours in a day, sometimes you will have to say “no” to some of the demands on your time. Deciding what is most important to you and your family, and then making those things your priorities, will help you to decide which stressful things can be eliminated. For instance, if you want your family to eat healthy meals but find that cooking every night after work is becoming stressful, find some healthy takeout food or see if your spouse or older children want to share the cooking duties. Doing everything yourself can often inhibit creativity in others who would be happy to share in new household or workplace duties. Deciding in advance what you can and cannot do in a time period allows you to delegate responsibilities to others and feel more in control of your time.

3. Learn to control reactions.

People differ in how they react to stress in their lives. Reactions are really the key to dealing with stress; if you are constantly overreacting to small stressors, your body is already taxed when more serious problems come along. Learning to deal with minor irritations at work and at home in a more relaxed manner can help you save your energy for major troubles. Visualize different problems that you face and think of various reactions you could have and what the results would be. For instance, if a co-worker is not doing his part of the project you’re both working on to your satisfaction, visualize yourself screaming and telling him how incompetent he is, ignoring his incompetence, showing him an easier and more efficient way to accomplish his goal, and pretending his work is okay and then redoing it yourself at the last minute. As you visualize the different results, you will probably find that some solutions would lead to continued stress, or even make new problems. Learning to deal with other people in a more relaxed manner is essential to controlling stress in your life.

Stress can come in many forms. The one thing you can count on is that it will be in your life. Try to remember that everyone handles stress differently. In other words, what causes one person to “stress-out” may be something that another person can easily handle. There is no cure-all for the stress that occurs in our lives, but we do have a choice about how we react to it. You and your spouse can together make an effort to control your thoughts and behaviors. Choose to lessen the effects of stress by communicating with each other. Communication also keeps one partner from feeling lonely, builds trust, shows commitment and can release the heavy burdens that you are feeling. Be kind, caring and show affection. Be aware of life’s stressors and don’t let them drive you and your partner apart.