Very few of us live stress-free lives.
On a daily basis, many of us have to deal with situations that add to our stress levels. There are challenges at work, with deadlines to meet, difficult colleagues to contend with, and employers who may be pushing us a little too hard. We can face stress at home too, with family arguments, money worries, and problems with our properties. Even setting foot outside can cause us to feel stress, especially if we are surrounded by troublesome neighbors and loud traffic
If you are showing the signs of being overly-stressed, these could be some of the reasons why.
However, there may also be other things that are adding to your stress. You may not even realize it so these factors may be surprising. Consider the following and relate them to how you’re feeling today.
#1: Your phone
If you, like many people, are constantly checking and using your phone, it might be that this is one stressor in your life. Trying to get a decent internet signal could be one thing that stresses you out, and if you take a lot of photos, you might also get stressed if you don’t know how to free up storage on iPhone (or whatever your device might be) to make room for your new pics.
Then there’s the constant connection to your social media networks. You might start to feel stressed if jealousy strikes after seeing the exciting posts your friends leave behind. Worrying news updates of disasters locally and around the world could cause you to fret. And you might start to get paranoid or down when people don’t ‘like’ your posts, or when they leave unkind comments.
Your phone is undoubtedly very useful but if there’s ever a reason to put down your phone, let your stress levels be it if you think your device is a stressor.
#2: Your friendships
Friends are supposed to lift you up, make you feel good about yourself, and give you cause to de-stress. They shouldn’t be the people that are adding to your stress levels. However, it might be that they could be to blame for some of your stress. How so?
Well, do you have any friends who are highly stressed out themselves? Sometimes, the stress other people feel can rub off on us, especially when we are around them for long periods of time. If you’re relating to this, it shows you probably have a lot of empathy as you’re able to feel their pain. But it’s not necessarily good for you.
Then there are those friends who gossip. Or the friends who put you down instead of making you feel good about yourself. There are also those who might look as if they have it all together, with perfect lives, perfect families, and perfect everything else! If you compare yourself to them, it might be that you stress yourself out if you start to feel inferior.
We should always value our friends but it might be that you need to spend less time with those people who are making you feel unwell. You might want to challenge those friends who put you down too and even ditch them for new friends if they’re mean and toxic.
#3: Your personal expectations
When you left school or college, you may have had lots of plans of things you wanted to do in life. You may have had a career plan in mind and ideas about marriage, family, and other things related to future relationships. Life may have seemed like yours for the taking, so your personal expectations of where you wanted life to take you may have been high.
But fast forward a number of years to where you are now. If you ever find yourself regretting your current position, this could be adding to your stress. If you don’t have the job you want, the husband you were hoping for, and a family by your side, it might be that you’re actually quite unhappy. As we alluded to in our last couple of points, if you are then reminded of how good other people’s lives supposedly are, through social media posts and friendship examples, you might start to get quite anxious.
What can you do? Well, it’s important to note that, as the old saying goes, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence. People can sometimes act as if they have wonderful lives but the reality can be far different. The ugliness of their situations can often be kept hidden. So, don’t always assume your life is lacking in comparison. Instead, make a gratitude list of the good things you do have in life and dwell upon these.
You should also be proactive. There’s no point dwelling on what could have been. Do what you can to find a better job or to meet the man of your dreams. And do whatever else it takes to achieve those things you yearned for in the past.
So, if these factors are related to your stress, do what you can to overcome them. By doing so, you will protect your mental health and improve the way you feel on a daily basis.
