Stress is not the same for everybody. Stress is different for each of us. What is stressful for one person may or may not be stressful for another; each of us responds to stress in an entirely different way.

Keep in mind, stress is not always bad for you. A little stress can help to motivate and actually increase our performance on certain tasks. The key issue is how to manage it and prevent it from becoming overwhelming. Managed stress makes us productive and happy; mismanaged stress hurts and even kills us.

Plan your life so that stress does not overwhelm you. Effective planning involves setting priorities and working on simple problems first, solving them, and then going on to more complex difficulties. When stress is mismanaged, it's difficult to prioritize. All your problems seem to be equal and stress seems to be everywhere.

No universally effective stress reduction techniques exist. We are all different, our lives are different, our situations are different, and our reactions are different. Only a comprehensive program tailored to the individual works.

Absence of symptoms does not mean the absence of stress. In fact, camouflaging symptoms with medication may deprive you of the signals you need for reducing the strain on your physiological and psychological systems.

Don't ignore minor symptoms of stress such as headaches or stomach acid. Minor symptoms of stress are the early warnings that your life is getting out of hand and that you need to do a better job of managing stress.

If you need to talk with someone about stress management in your life, contact our Virtual Clinic for more information.

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