Stressed Out? Here's How to Feel Normal Again
By Teresa Ambord
Everybody has stress. Even though teens usually have less responsibility than adults, they still suffer from stress.
Physical changes, societal pressures, the desire to fit in, and the struggle to grow up can be enormously stressful. Stress not only makes your daily life harder, but not handling it can result in complexion problems, overeating, mood swings -- which cause relationship problems, and an increased vulnerability to sickness. If you're a teen that is suffering from stress, here are some ways to deal with it that can benefit your mind and body.
- Don't skip meals. Appetite or no appetite, failing to eat will weaken your body, making you more likely to get sick.
- Avoid caffeine, which tends to heighten anxiety.
- Avoid smoking, drinking, and drugs. You may think using these will reduce stress, but in the long run, they just add to your problems.
- Get some exercise. Stress may make you feel like sitting around dwelling on problems. Inactivity causes bad hormones to build up and make your stress worse. Just take a walk and burn off the stress-producing hormones.
- If a task seems too big, ask for help. If there is no help, break the task down into bite sizes. Fretting about a big job only makes it worse. Set small goals and get to work. As the saying goes, "a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step." So get stepping.
- Put your problems in perspective. Ask yourself "what is the worst that could possibly happen?" For example, suppose you are worried about a big test. Be realistic about the answer. Once you've faced down the worst possible scenario, it loses some of its ability to hurt you. With that done, get cracking, and do everything in your power to make sure the worst doesn't happen.
- Remember, the worst rarely happens. A famous author once wrote that he developed a more positive outlook on life after he realized that 90 percent of the things he stressed out about never came to pass. We spend our lives worrying about things that probably will never become reality.
- Stop expecting perfection of yourself. Chances are, no one sees your mistakes as clearly as you do, if at all. Do your best and resolve to improve next time, and leave it at that.
- Accentuate the positive. Instead of beating yourself up for what you cannot do, dwell on what you can do well.
- Surround yourself with people who support you and have a positive impact. If you have a friend who brings you down, makes you angry, or influences you to do things you regret. walk away. It's hard enough to feel good about yourself without letting others bring you down. Remember, you really are known by the company you keep. If the friends you hang out with have bad reputations, so do you. That's just life, and who needs that kind of pressure?
- Find a trusted adult to talk problems over with. Or talk directly to the person who is causing your problem, if that is the case. For example, if friends are pressuring you to do things you don't want to, confront them and tell them to back off.
- Take a shower. It's relaxing and it can help you feel more normal.
- Do whatever you would be doing if you weren't stressed. A very effective way to work through stress is to think about what you would be doing if you weren't stressed, and just do it. For example, suppose you get home from school and have chores to do, but you're upset because of a fight with your boyfriend/girlfriend. It's tempting to just sit and stew about it. But the more normal you behave, the easier it is to deal with the problem. Do your chores or your homework, or whatever you would be doing, and you'll find your body and your mind feel better. Act normal and eventually will feel more normal.