Stress Prevention Plan (in 3 Steps)
How to prevent stress
On a day-to-day basis, we have become accustomed to withstanding a pressure that we believe is inevitable, but which takes us away from our inner peace and prevents us from relating openly and responsively with what surrounds us. Learning to detect when we are exceeding our limits and prioritize what is really important will allow us to enjoy all the good that life has to offer.
Keeping stress at bay is a task that relies on three fundamental attitudes:
- Have good habits.
- Surround ourselves with people who really love us and whom we trust.
- Learn to focus on what is really important to us.
Detecting and curbing stress: Montse’s story
It is nine in the morning on Wednesday and there is no way for the fourth graders to concentrate on the text you are trying to read to them. Montse casts a circular glance at the class. Javier doesn’t stop getting up and sitting down. Lorena and Mónica have decided to play marbles under the table. David protests, he doesn’t like what Montse is reading. Suddenly, Luis throws the colors on the ground.
Montse slams the book on the table, notices that its interior is a ball of fire struggling to get out of her mouth, her hands are shaking. He would scream. A little voice inside her tries to stop her:
“Easy, Montse, easy. You’re just a little stressed and they’re just kids. “
He turns on the computer, finds an hour-long video on recycling, and projects it on the digital whiteboard.
At recess, she decides to talk to her friend Nuria, also a teacher. He does not understand what is happening to him. From a year to this point she is very tired, it is difficult for her to disconnect from work, she has nightmares, she forgets things and she loses her temper more and more. “It all started with the cuts,” he says. Nuria interrupts her:
“Don’t kid yourself, you’ve never been afraid of stress; On the contrary, you have always believed that a little pressure makes you work harder and better. You are in a risk zone –he affirms–, you could read it in any manual. When sources of stress are brief and manageable, stress tends to have positive effects. When it lasts longer than expected, it becomes uncontrollable and health suffers. That is what is happening to you. You choose, Montse ”.
Nuria’s words make a dent in Montse. You can’t stop thinking about what he said. Especially in the last sentence: “You choose.” Back home, he finds the dining room without picking up and Juan having a beer while watching the football game on TV. They get into an argument. Juan concludes with an ironic “of course, you do everything well” before slamming the door and leaving.
Montse begins to cry: she has the feeling that she has lost her center, that she has hit rock bottom.
He calls his mother, he has not seen her for more than a year, he will visit her on Sunday. The mother lives in a small town in the Sierra. When getting off the train, Montse perceives the smells of nature, the perfume of the damp earth, the oak wood burning in the chimneys.
Take a deep breath, after a few minutes your breathing begins to slow down and become deeper and fuller.
Perhaps this is the first step to be better: stop for a moment, breathe without judgment, let yourself be felt.
How long has it been since you stopped to savor the present? She is always half caught between the past she would have liked to have and the problems that the immediate future will bring. The mother is aware of her daughter’s condition as soon as she sees her. “Have you eaten?” He asks.
Mon tse watches his mother peeling the vegetables. He has not told you that he almost never sits at the table because he does not have time and that he only bites between meals. There is some ritual in the way her mother dices the zucchini, the beets into slices. She is totally present in the act of cooking for her daughter, she enjoys it, and it is beautiful to look at her.
The mother hands him a glass of wine. After the first sip, Montse smiles. In the afternoon, he convinces her to go to the pool together. Montse advances arm by arm. The sound of water and the feeling of weightlessness in her body relax her.
Of course, playing sports helps you feel better physically … but, in addition, Montse has a sense of control over herself that she almost never feels.
Unlike what you are doing now, choosing the rhythm, it seems that in your life you have no choice. It responds to the demands and demands of the environment without thinking, at breakneck speed. Before going to sleep they chat for a while, and as soon as her mother goes to bed, Montse decides to organize the weekly schedule a bit.
When reviewing the tasks assigned to her at school, she is very surprised: she has organized herself so she does not have a free minute! On Monday he goes to meet the director. You have decided to resign your position as librarian. She knows they are short of staff, but she has been in charge of it for four years. Next year she doesn’t want to be a cycle coordinator either.
He just wants to dedicate himself to teaching, to children. Montse focuses on what worries her, speaks assertively, does not beat around the bush, and weighs pros and cons objectively to illustrate her arguments. Contrary to what I expected, the director is attentive and understanding. Access everything.
In the afternoon, he delayed going home: he was afraid of Juan’s reaction, he did not tell him that he would be spending Sunday with his mother. As they enter the dining room, their eyes meet.
Montse sees in Juan’s eyes the fear of losing her. He also sees the love, the warmth of the years shared.
“I thought,” says Montse, “that we could join a gym. And go out to the movies from time to time, if you feel like it. ” Then he falls silent. “Maybe we should change some things,” he continues. “Sure,” Juan responds. “Starting with myself,” she thinks.
You have come to realize that you must take your own responsibility for the great stress level in your life. It was not inevitable.
His display of activity responded to the demands of the environment, but, deep down, he hid a somewhat passive way of managing reality, perhaps even a denier of situations that he had preferred to avoid.
But she is no longer willing to pay that price. You have begun to savor the little pleasures in life again – slow, calm, present – and you don’t want to lose them again.
