Don’t manage the damage that is related to stress. The only form of stress management that will make a difference in the way you feel is managing to be free of stress.
Once we feel stressed out, the damage has been done. The body is already responding to the feeling of stress, and a whole host of negative physical and psychological symptoms have begun. Instead of spending years taking workshops and listening to lectures on how to manage your stress, why not learn how to avoid feeling stressed altogether by managing your thoughts?
Practice changing negative stress-producing thoughts into positive, calming thoughts. Pick a situation in which you would normally become stressed. Identify the type of thoughts you would normally have in that situation. Can you identify the stress-producing thoughts? Once you have identified the stress-producing thoughts, change them to positive, calming thoughts.
Create your own personal positive, calming words for this situation and then repeat them over and over again. This is likely to feel strange, even uncomfortable at first, because you are used to feeling stressed out. You might not even believe it is possible to change your stress-producing thoughts to positive, calming thoughts. If and when this happens, just notice that you are uncomfortable and keep on thinking positive, calming thoughts about the situation. Speak the words out loud. Continue this process until you are able to get past your discomfort and your own negative stress producing thoughts.
