Are you one of those people who wishes you had a 30-hour day? Do you long for having enough time to homeschool your children, cook gourmet meals, tend a garden, care for a large, five-bedroom house, play the piano, and sit by the fire reading a good book? The fact of the matter is many Americans today are operating under a time crunch. We simply don’t have enough hours in the day to accomplish all that we want to.
The situation creates an enormous amount of stress. We may feel as if we are constantly operating under a deadline. We may feel fatigued and frustrated, and we may wonder if we are missing out on much of life because we spend so much time doing and not enough time thinking.We’re stressed at work, stressed at home, and stressed at our son’s soccer match.
The irony is, the more we do, the more behind we seem to get. We are constantly on the run, yet we may feel as if we are accomplishing very little. As a result, our pessimism grows. We may become short-tempered, especially with those we love. We may feel as if we are constantly running on empty.
The good news is there is hope, even in the midst of what might seem a hopeless situation. We can get control of our lives and control of our time. It may take a little bit of effort and time, but it will be well worth it in the long run. The first step we need to take is prioritization.
Many people feel as if they lack time to do the important things in life simply because they do not take the time to prioritize. Write down a list of your goals for the week, for the year, and for the next five years.
When you do your initial brainstorming, you can list the goals in any order you like. Then go through the goals and rank them in order of importance. After that task is completed, figure out just how much time you would need to accomplish each goal. You may find that just five minutes here or there can make all the difference in the world in achieving the items on your priority list.
Next, learn to multi-task effectively. That time you spend waiting in the line at the drive-thru window could be spent balancing your checkbook. Or the time you spend paused at the cash register could be used to read a book or a magazine. In general, you should not think of lines as time-wasters. Rather, consider them opportunities to accomplish some small, yet important, tasks.
In order to be effective as a worker, spouse, and parent, you’ll need some alone time. Get an appointment book and actually schedule a block of time just for yourself. Your alone time could be spent praying, re-evaluating your priorities, charting your progress, or just fixing yourself a nice dessert. Just be sure that you have some alone time each day. Otherwise, you’ll be shortchanging yourself, and you’ll feel more stressed as a result.
Don’t be afraid to say no. You cannot be a cub scout leader, girl scout leader, fundraising chair, and prima ballerina all at one time. You’ll need to pick and choose your assignments, both your professional assignments and your personal ones.
If you simplify your life, you might be surprised at how much time you’ll gain and how much better you will feel. Sometimes, it takes some backbone to say no. You might disappoint someone. But, in the end, you’ll be much better off, knowing that you have not overcommitted yourself.
You should consider your time to be as precious as the President’s. There are a number of duties which make demands on your time, those you love and those you don’t care for. By employing some innovative scheduling techniques, you can set aside the time for those things that are truly important to you.
You’ll be less stressed, more relaxed, and better able to cope with the challenges you encounter on a daily basis. As you become less stressed out, you might find that your children, spouse, and friends follow your lead. And your world will become more harmonious as a result.
Archive for the ‘Stress at Home’ Category
Manage Your Stress By Managing Your Time
Saturday, March 13th, 2010Is Your Work Stress Causing You Headache?
Friday, March 12th, 2010Work is bondage, work is liberation! Work is suffering, work is the bliss! Thus goes the wise saying in the sacred Oriental Texts. The detailed comments and analysis on this could be the matter for a big book. Here I will discuss the facts related to work stress only.
It is difficult to single out the causes related to work stress and headache. Stress at home could be the reason for your headache at office or vice versa.
Headache due to work stress may be due to various direct causes. The nature of work that you do could be the contributing factor. If you are sitting for example on the front desk, in places like railway station or any other counter you need to deal with hundreds of people. Your day is bound to spend with varying confusion causing queries.
At times, you may have to skip your lunch due to the over pressure of work on you. The frequent arguments that you have with some of your clients could be another headache contributing reason for you.
For a woman, if she is a homemaker, there could be several causes of stress related headache. Firstly, she may simply be unable to cope up with the domestic work. And, if she is a working woman, the combination of work stress at office and her domestic duties are going to challenge her physical as well as mental strength. She may experience continuous headache on these accounts.
Many times, the remedy becomes worst than the disease. When you have headache, possibly to counter it, you go on taking coffee, tea or any other soft drinks. The reputation of these drinks is well known to you. You have a feeling that there is some reduction in the level of headache, but it is actually not so. Caffeine content in these items is not the cure, but one of the underlying causes of headache. By making a habit of taking such drinks, you are only nurturing your headache.
To tackle headache due to work stress, you need to understand the causes of stress and the nature of your work. You need to budget your time and draw a work schedule. Your place of work is your place of worship, do your best for it, and then forget the rest. Do not give importance for the situations not created by you. Your patience and understanding can solve many of the problems, and consequently lighten your stress.
No matter what kind of work we do, stress is part of our lives. We can reduce our stress levels, but we can’t eliminate it. We can learn to control it and live with it. When you are able to eliminate the causes of work stress, your headache will be a thing of the past.
Thriving on Blossoming Stress
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010There is no way I can tell you to rid of stress completely. Each day we deal with stress that emerges from stressors. Note the keyword stressors, since this is what you want to focus on eliminating to learn how to thrive on stress.
Everywhere you turn, there will be stress. At home, we become stressed from dealing with outside activities as well as keeping up inside duties, such as laundry, cooking and trying to spend time with our loved ones. There doesn’t seem to be enough hours in a day to get everything done and relax too.
Learn to thrive on stress with stress management. When we learn to manage our stress, we gain confidence, energy, and begin to feel better about ourselves.
Discover your stress and stressors. Now visualize the consequences of making a choice to take a walk to reduce stress, rather than blow up or drink too much alcohol to cope. Next, think positive and decide what changes you can make to cope with stressful things that interfere with your success.
When you feel strained, take a stroll around the block to relieve stress. Walking will not only relieve you of some stress, but will also improve your health and build energy. We all need exercise for our bodies and brain for a longer and healthier future.
Exercise will make you feel like a new person as time goes on. We become relaxed with exercise, lowers our blood pressure and the heart rate gets a boost to help the blood flow smoother. Walking is the most effective way to becoming a new person that everyone will be please to be around.
Thrive on stress by learning meditation skills. Learn to meditate so that you can focus on what you must do to accomplish your duties. Meditation can be done anywhere by learning to focus on one thing. When you feel stressed, focus. Learn to meditate.
Sometimes when we have demanding deadlines, we often put other things aside and focus on the stress, rather than meeting the deadline, which causes us to fail with completing the projects to clear up time to get other things done. Try to focus on it with thinking positive so that you can accomplish your duties. If you have to take a minute and walk away from the task you are managing to meditate for a minute or two, do it.
Refocus and use your self-talk tools to relax and reaffirm that you will complete your task on time. Focusing on negative thoughts only makes getting the job done harder and sometimes unsuccessful. With negative thoughts, we begin to make mistakes because we are not thinking about what we are actually doing.
Change your ways by using self-talking tools to reform your mind from thinking negative to positive. The way we think is what we are going to tell our self through self-talk. If we are stress and we are thinking negative our self talk if going to tell us to do it wrong.
By thinking positive, we begin to program our self to get what we must do done on time and we do not worry as often.
Thrive on stress to make changes. When we thrive on our stress, it forces us to make changes in our way of thinking or to learn the skills that guide us to relaxation by meditating. Learn from our stress by recognizing what causes us to behave in making bad decisions or fail at making deadlines.
Learning to use stress as a way to make changes will help us gain confidence and become successful for a healthier and longer future. Take the pilot guide to thrive on stress.
A Remodeling Contractor Is The Answer To Your Home Improvement Problems
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010Do you want to change your home? Thousands of people everyday think about just that. They decide that they want a change. So instead of buying a new home, they decide to remodel the one that they have.
Other people who consider remodeling have just outgrown the space that they have and need more. When you are planning a home remodeling project, it can be a very stressful time. There are so many things to consider. You can eliminate the majority of the stress of home remodeling by hiring a remodeling contractor.
A remodeling contractor is a professional trained in remodeling a room or an entire home. They have knowledge and expertise to complete the job quickly and to your satisfaction. He or she often has sub-contractors that they work with to ensure the job is done properly.
It is important that you find a remodeling contractor that you have something in common with. Finding someone who has the same tastes as you will lessen any stress that you may have. Take the time to talk to and get to know several different contractors. Tell them what your plans for the remodeling project are and listen to what they come up with. A good contractor will pick up on what you want even if you do not know how to describe it.
After you have hired a contractor for remodeling your house, he or she will design a very detailed plan for your home. The details will include estimates, introduce you to the sub-contractors that will be assisting on your remodeling project and how long the project should take to complete.
It can take a lot of pressure and stress off of you and your family to hire a remodeling contractor. When you hire a remodeling contractor, you have the final say and the contractor has the responsibility. You can ask the contractor to keep you informed of the progress that is being made and if everything is on schedule.
Contractors have a lot of contacts. You can benefit from this as the contractor may be able to get you special discounts on items you will need for your project. They may also be able to sell the accessories and fixtures that are removed from your home remodeling project.
There are many things that can affect the estimate that is given. If labor or supplies are not available, it could either delay your project or raise the estimate if the contractor has to go elsewhere for laborers or supplies.
It is crucial to your home remodeling project that you discuss everything with the remodeling contractor. Ask him or her if there are any hidden charges that will be added to the final bill. If they tell you that there are not, get it in writing.
Also, there are always hidden costs in remodeling that you need to be prepared for. However, if you have checked the references of your kitchen-remodeling contractor and have built up a rapport, you can trust him or her to do the best they can. Which means you can enjoy the remodeling experience and the finished effect!
Summary:
Remodeling you home is a big financial responsibility. Make sure that you check the references of the remodeling contractor you are hiring. Do not think that you are insulting the contractor, most are proud of the work that they do and enjoy showing it off.
Southern Oaks Resort & Spa, Langley, Oklahoma
Sunday, March 7th, 2010
Call Direct #1.866.452.5307 Langley, Oklahoma Leave stress at home as you relax in lavish comfort near beautiful Grand Lake! Southern Oaks Resort lends peace and quiet to your Oklahoma getaway! Visit the area winery, ride the riverboat, play golf or see the hot rod and novel car museum. Tour the Pensacola Dam, the largest multiple arch dam in the world. With a variety of restaurants, one is sure to tempt your appetite. Individual and couples’ massages and body treatments await; wrap up in a plush robe, slip on flip flops and head to your massage! Book your next family reunion and have it under the pavilion. The cabins sleep two to eight people and several have hot tubs – perfect for a romantic winter getaway. Southern Oaks Resort will ensure a relaxing vacation away from the everyday world! Visit our link for more info: www.resortsandlodges.com
Stress – Some Ways Not To Deal With It
Saturday, March 6th, 2010There are any number stress management techniques and for coping with stress in general and dealing with both the physical and emotional causes for stress. There are techniques for both short-term symptoms of stress and even long-term or chronic symptoms of stress are possible.
There are also a certain amount of self employed techniques that are actually or can be counter productive in the quest for a cure. The following are some of the more typical errors.
In an attempt to alleviate the tension and worry that accompany stress, some individuals can head down the wrong path will unwittingly engage in self-destructive behavior.
The type of stress that can lead to being short-tempered and cause the individual behave angrily toward a friend or family member can many times be heightened by excessive alcohol drinking or even coffee drinking that results in a high intake of caffeine. Many times these dots aren’t connected and the cycle continues causing more stress symptoms more often.
Lack of sleep or chronic lack of sleep (insomnia) is one of the most common causes of stress. Again, the theme here is the cycle of stress itself. When something is troubling you, and you are physically uncomfortable, it’s difficult to relax enough to sleep. And when you don’t get enough sleep and become fatigued your patience grows shorter and you ability to reason becomes inhibited and thus the stress continues. During this type of a stress cycle, when you do manage to fall asleep, it’s often interrupted during the night, or not the type of deep sleep that is genuinely restful.
A heightened focus on problem solving is natural and generally a sign of good mental health. But completely obsessing, even in the face of serious issues, is counter-productive. Try to step outside the problem as if you are consoling someone or a friend who is faced with the problem. You would be concerned, of course and this will give you a different perspective of the situation. We’re often much better at maintaining objectivity when the problem belongs to someone else.
Some people try to cope with stress by doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. One of the techniques used to combat stress is the ability to focus on something else that takes your mind away from a stressful situation. However, burying oneself into projects at work or school as way of shifting focus away from problems at home may at best provide a change of focus, but ultimately is not a productive way to deal with the stress at home in this situation. Avoidance can only be partially successful, and only temporarily at that.
Some problems do go away on their own and ignoring (or more accurately not over-reacting to them) can be a viable strategy. But a reality check is the key here… the circumstances combined with the internal evaluations that lead to chronic stress do not disappear simply because we’re not thinking about them.
A temporary break to gain perspective and get the emotions under control is healthy. Hiding one’s head in the sand is not.
Fundamentally, all these incorrect and unhelpful methods have a common root. Reality doesn’t go away when some aspects of it are inconvenient or unpleasant.
Life is filled with obstacles placed in your way. The existence of those hurdles and the need to overcome them – when combined with doubts about our ability to do so – leads to stress. Learning to correctly evaluate and deal with life’s obstacles leads to gaining confidence in one’s ability to do so and with each hurdle overcome one’s self confidence grows stronger… and stress stays on vacation.
8 Simple Tips for a Stress Free Life
Thursday, March 4th, 2010Stress is a common and normal part of all of our lives, and according to scientific research, it is also necessary for the body to function normally. When humans are confronted with emotional or physical events that are deemed threatening in some way, the reaction the body experiences as a way to cope with the event is known as stress.
With the busy, fast-paced lives that most people lead today, it is no wonder stress is one of the most difficult aspects that one must cope with. Use the following simple tips to find ways of combating stress and tension and feel the rewards of a more relaxing existence.
Think First
If people would just stop and take the time to evaluate a stressful situation before reacting unfavorably, they will find out that there is usually a better, healthier way to react. Stress can be greatly reduced if you are able to see other possibilities or sides of a situation, such as finding a humorous angle. Studies have proven that having a sense of humor and trying to find the good aspects of life rather than focusing on the negative will not only reduce stress, but make us happier and healthier in general.
Be Informed
Many people react to a stressful event before they even know all of the facts of the situation. Be completely informed before allowing stress to take over and control your reaction.
Keep Work at Work
It is no secret that personal and professional lives rarely mix. If one brings their stressful problems home they are only tarnishing the one place that is supposed to bring relief from the stressors of the job in the first place. Learn how to keep work at work, and alternately, leave your personal problems where they belong, at home.
Enjoy Yourself
Simply taking up a relaxing hobby can significantly lower levels of stress, tension and anxiety. Play a game or attend a favorite sporting event, learn how to play a musical instrument, or sing your favorite song as you take a peaceful walk and feel the tension begin to dissipate.
Take a Break
If you feel that you are under a great amount of stress and your body is beginning to feel the adverse affects, take a short break from whatever it is you are doing and simply count to ten. Take a few deep breaths, stretch your arms and legs to keep the blood circulating and then resume your work.
Slow Down
People who often rush around tend to be considerably more stressed than their slower-moving peers. By walking and even talking slower you may be able to reduce your impatience which will in turn minimize the stress you feel.
Stay in Control
We often feel stress as the result of feeling out of control for some reason. Take control of your environment as much as possible and allow yourself plenty of time to relax and regroup between appointments or meetings. Create a list of priorities and stick to it, moving on to the next task only when you have completed the first.
Retrain Yourself
It is possible to train oneself to learn how to properly react to stressors or emotionally trying events. There are several techniques that are found to be effective in reducing stress such as listening to music, walking, meditation, yoga and exercise. Or simply find a quiet place to sit or lie down and gather your thoughts.
With just a bit of practice anyone can learn how to naturally reduce their reaction to the common stressors of everyday life.
.. Everything ? – [Beta's]
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
Heath Dangers Of Work At Home Businesses
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010Most of us never think that working at home can cause health problems. We focus on the freedom of working for ourselves, and the increase self actualization, and the opportunity for enjoying better relationships.
Statistically, most of use work for $25 000 which translates to .24 an hour after we pay for day care, commuting costs, taxes, clothing, lunches, grooming, and equipment. In many cases, a work at home business can generate more revenue than an average office job, by earning only $90 a week.
Doctors and professionals alike are quick to explain how this can benefit our health. With 80% of all American diseases caused by stress, brining home more money, reducing time spent submerged in the rush hour, or dealing with office politics, is a step in the ‘healthy direction.’
It is also common knowledge that working at home can reduce the chances of contracting Influenza, Rheumatic fever, Epstein-Barr Viral Syntrome, Rubela, Varicella (chicken pox), Paravirus, and Osteomyelitis. The US looses billions of work hours a year from these diseases.
What they do not tell us is how working at home can decrease our overall health and even causes serious problems.
Back Problems
Chronic back pain is one of the most debilitating, and most common problems. It is usually suffered by people who spend more than 5 hours a day on a computer, have a manger’s chair instead of a secretary’s chair, and do not use an ergonomic keyboard. Sitting slumped in a chair can cause long term problems, because It slows the flow of blood through the spine. Remarkably, stress can also slow the flow of blood through muscles and the spine.
Stress can tighten the muscles in the back. To see if this is your problem then take your fingers and press firmly on the back of your skull. You will find 2 or 3 places where a firm push will cause serious pain. Following the ‘pain spot’ down will reveal a thread or rope like muscle.
The cure is easy. Get up and walk around for two or three minutes every hour. Take a lunch break away from the computer. Do not work longer than 5 hours without a break. And, eat well.
Food
The computer can leave us feeling stressed without recognizing the problem. The number one problem is caused by lack of water. This can cause severe pains in the legs. Coffee, or other hot beverages will not solve the problem. A work at home business owner should drink one bottle of water a day.
There has been a proven problem between food coloring and eye site.
“The use of this feed additive is purely cosmetic, to colour food and reduced levels of it will not adversely affect the taste or quality of our food”, said European Health Commissioner, David Byrne.
A work at home business should provide the owner with a better diet. This is rarely true. Without friends to dine with, a much needed excuse to leave the office, or the business lunch, the business owner ends up grazing on pre processed food that includes, excessive sugar and salt, but also more food coloring than is found in most restaurant meals.
Computers
There are risks associated with jobs that force workers to sit in front of that computer:
Eye strain
RSI (Repetitive Stress Syndrome)
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Constant Head Aches
Dizziness
Breathing Problems
Difficulty Concentrating
Most of these problems are easy to solve
Use a foot rest
Have a ‘pad’ heater under the desk in the winter
Only use an ergonomic keyboard
Change position every few minutes.
Buy a monitor larger than 17″, has an anti glare coating, and tilts so it is in line with your eyes – instead of you needing to bend or twist to be in line with the computer.
While protecting your portfolio, and revenue generating streams, don’t forget to protect your health.
Fallin’ For You – Colbie Caillat (cover)
Monday, March 1st, 2010
kso – I know I haven’t recorded a video in a while, I do apologize for that. So much stress at home, at school, outside of my house and school (LOL) anyway .. well, today up until friday * will be my last few days singing & doing sports and other stuff for quite a while. I have to focus on school , gotta take a break from all of this. Anywho, hope you guys enjoy !
