Stressed Out

Stress. It’s around that time of year where stress starts to come in for most people.  Christmas is right around the corner, with all the expectations and obligations it entails, students are gearing up for their finals, many workplaces enter the busiest time with year-end goals and deadlines, and to top it all off the weather begins to take a typical turn towards the frigid. While this change in temperature may be to my taste, for many it is yet another thing to contend with.

In light of the stress you may be facing, I’d like to lay out a few simple tips for dealing with stress.  The first is rather simple: take care of yourself.  A good principle to keep in mind is that the less you take care of yourself, the less you are capable of taking care of.  Eating well and getting enough sleep are critical aspects of not just mental health, but health in general.  It may be tempting to stay up late and work on something, but you can often get it done faster and to a higher degree of quality when you’ve had adequate rest.  Working through lunch or foregoing the meal altogether may have a similar effect. 

The next tip is similar to the first: take breaks.  We are not machines.  We cannot just run continuously without crashing.  While resting certainly includes eating and sleeping, it also pertains to our general focus.  Our brains work best when they are allowed to have periods of relaxation.  Focus is never infinitely maintainable.  Taking breaks from work or study sessions can improve both your focus and overall health. Take a few minutes to walk around, do something entertaining or have a conversation (not necessarily on social media – which can add to stress sometimes).  

The next tip can be rather difficult, but it is important. Keep things in perspective, or at the very least as close to it as possible.  In the moment, it often feels like your current situation is hugely important, urgent or life-changing.  Rarely is it so.  A forgotten Christmas gift, a test barely passed, an appointment reached late, all of these things often fade with time, explanation, and forgiveness.  Most people can be generally understanding of the difficult circumstances that we find themselves under.  It’s okay to rely upon that understanding (or grace) when necessary.  Life happens to everyone, and most can grant that to others, even if they can’t to themselves. 

Sometimes people fear that failing, or asking for forgiveness, or needing a little help will make others look down on them.  While I’m sure that happens every now and then, most people understand that everyone needs a little extra grace sometimes.  A good way of putting things in perspective is to attempt to judge your own situation as if you were judging someone else in that same situation. You would probably be understanding towards someone else. Looking at it from that perspective helps a lot of current problems or mistakes to be seen as less critical.  That isn’t to say that these things are never of any importance at all, only that they are rarely worth the self-sacrifice that many are willing to put towards them. 

The next tip ties into keeping things in the greater perspective, know who you are. You have to remember your foundation in Christ. Your situation, performance, and stressors do not define you.  Christ does.  Even if everything falls apart, Christ never leaves.  Finding ourselves in Him gives us sanctuary from what goes on around us.  In the end, if we are listening and obedient, we can trust that all will be well.  What that means may not meet our own definitions, and we have no control over the choices of others, but God will ensure that His children are always, ultimately, secure in Him. We can walk through stressful times with confidence because our future is in His hands and everything that really matters is in Him.

Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.  1 Peter 5:7

Ryan Tack is the

Minister to Teens at 

Generations of Grace 

in Lebanon, TN