Stress is what you feel when you are trying to handle more than you can!

If you are suffering from stress, you might:

• Race through the scheduled activities of the day.
• Feel like you’re always hurrying the kids.
• Have disrupted sleep patterns.
• Feel irritable and easily angry.
• Fail to see the humour in situations others find funny.
• Have difficulty making decisions.
• Ignore your body’s need for food, relaxation or sleep.
• Feel tired, exhausted and worn out when you get up in the morning.

Stress Stage 1:

When you undergo stressful events, your body will respond as though you are in danger invoking the fight or flight response. The release of adrenalin creates:

• Rapid breathing
• Increased heart rate
• Sweating
• Heat
• Burst of energy

Stress Stage 2:

When stressful events happen over a prolonged period, your body begins to release stored sugars and fats from its resources. At this stage you:

• Feel driven to keep doing more.
• Feel pressured and overwhelmed.
• Are often tired, fatigued and have trouble sleeping.
• Drink more coffee, alcohol and smoke more.
• Experience memory loss.
• Catch colds and flus more often than normal.

Stress Stage 3:

If the stressful events don’t subside, you become chronically stressed. Your body’s need for energy exceeds its ability to produce it. You experience:

• Insomnia
• Errors in judgement, like a careless or costly decision on the job.
• Extreme irritability.
• A vulnerability to developing a serious illness like heart disease or a chronic illness.

Our counsellors can help you:

• Think more optimistically about events.
• Help you find more balance between your work and your life.
• Find time to do the things you really want to do.
• Help you regain permission to play and have fun.
• Set boundaries and stay in control of your workload.
• Regain a sense of humour.
• Help you master self-care strategies.

Negative, critical, fearful, anxious, thoughts are crucial stress factors.

Mind/Body research has proven that our negative thoughts can be as harmful as stressful life events because the mind doesn’t know the difference!

You can’t always change the stress around you but you can change the stress inside you by how you think about events.