Elements of stress

This a story about stress. I’ve always liked to say that good coffee makes morning good. I’m, however, having discuss the fact again. Despite having Guatemalan dark roasted coffee in my cup, the mornings haven’t been exactly good lately. There has been and still is a load factors causing stress and maybe even bit of anxiety, which have had a significant influence on me. So now that I have lead the storyline from fresh coffee to something totally different, I can perhaps elaborate a bit.

During past few days there has been a load of stressing factors placed upon me, and it eventually turned me to a grumpy bastard. And if can say that honestly of myself, I believe people around me will have an even harsh description of my state of being. Not a sunshine by any means. Admittedly, I’m a person who becomes influenced by such factors. I’m highly aspiring at what I do, and simultaneously get upset and frustrated, if things just keep going wrong. This is to say, that it will touch every person differently.

I’m trying to balance and achieve on multiple fronts at the same time, so there is a multiplier to the stress factor. What often happens is that when struggling on one front, one tries to find success on other fronts. However, under enough stress load all fronts become affected and vicious cycle is complete – things just get worse. And worse. Then that adds to the overall stress. I got into state where I just couldn’t stand my training and it became shitty, because I felt bad and that I should be doing work instead. Whilst working, I started to feel that I should be training. And it snowballed from there on.

There are several coping strategies with stress, some of them working better than others depending on the personality. First is a problem-focused approach, when you pro-actively try to find solutions to improve the situational stressors. It is a rational process where you actively seek ways to deal with the stressors to get rid of it, which in working environment often works. Secondly comes the emotion focused where the emotions triggered by the stressors are emphasized. That is done by using social support or any other means to meet the emotional state. Thirdly, an effective way to deal with stress is sheer avoidance, which by no means is recommendable. That is when you choose consciously to ignore the task and thus, things usually can only get worse.

This time I have applied the first two. It has not been working too well until this morning. I was miserable and trying to train on my turbo at 7am, when I started to realize that there is only so much I can do about it. I’ve found possible solutions, I’m pursuing them and I’ve had emotional discussions within and been supported with the situation. Whilst doing my cool down, I reached my conclusion that I can choose to be continuously stressed or I can pursue to problem focused solutions, and work my ass off in training (which by the way is one of the solutions). The came to mind a certain Control theory, which is one of my favourites in the anxiety front.

According to the control theory, there are things that can be controlled and the feel and perception of control determines how much stress is actually triggered. If one feels they’re up to the demands, the stress becomes easier to deal with. And I am now, I can pursue the leads and do my training. Another thing in regards to control is something I learned from Dr. Wayne Halliwell last autumn: “Control the controllables. There are things you can’t control, let them go since you can’t do anything about them.”

How do you cope with your stress?

Have a good day.

Anton