Recent research tells us that a lot of Australians are experiencing a great deal of stress in their life. Life is getting more complex, the pressures are increasing, the pace is getting faster, and a lot of people are struggling to cope.
One of the keys to good stress management is learning to keep our “internal stress” as low as possible so that we have the capacity to cope with the inevitable “external stress” that will come our way.
Internal stress is the stress we carry on the inside of us and it usually comes from three things:
- Unrealistic expectations (about God, ourselves or others).
- Destructive attitudes
- Unresolved relational issues
Have you ever seen someone have something very small happen to them and they just lost it. What was going on? The thing that happened to them wasn’t the issue. It was most likely the fact that they were already carrying a bunch of internal stress and this extra thing pushed them over the edge.
Adjust your expectations to be more in line with reality.
Deal with negative emotions quickly.
Resolve your interpersonal conflicts.
By doing so, you can reduce your level of internal stress significantly, placing you in a position to be able to cope much better with the inevitable stresses of life.
Internal Stress … Think about it.
Great word!
Unrealistic expectations (about God, ourselves or others). <-- exactly what I'm learning right now.