Life Coaching for Stress Management

You may be dealing with your career, your business, your finances, your family or even your health. The pressures have been mounting and you feel that they will never ease up.

The edginess and tension you feel in your body and your mind sometimes builds to a point where it seems like only alcohol or drugs can help.

There may be times when you feel that stress is just something you have to learn to live with.

That idea; that stress is actually something we all have to learn to live with is fundamentally true.

The real question is how well do we manage our stress?

All too often the stressed out individual will attempt to manage their stress using very poor stress management strategies.

Typically these strategies may include: eating too much, drinking too much, using recreational drugs too often and even isolating themselves from friends and family rationalizing that they need time to be alone to think.

Sometimes, in an effort to do something about their stress levels, people may look at or read one or more the many stress management self-help books to get guidance.

Some of the information found in those resources is quite good, however the person needs to be disciplined enough to incorporate the strategies most appropriate to their lifestyle.

There are those who believe they need to be so fully engaged with activities that they will be too busy to worry and feel stressed. This is of course is a false assumption.

It is clearly poor stress management and counterproductive to simply add more things to your agenda.

Stress is an extremely important protective mechanism for all of us. We’re designed by nature to detect danger and for the mind and body to become stressed as a result. When we fear the danger in our midst our brain sends signals to release the hormone adrenaline. The adrenaline increases the amount of sugar in the blood and spikes the heart rate.

The pituitary gland is also signaled to release cortisol, the other powerful hormone that serves to keep the blood sugar and heart rate up. All this hormonal activity is triggered expressly for the purpose of taking action: running away from danger or confronting it.

This response is typically called the stress response. When it gets triggered all the parts of the body that are urgently needed are put to use. All the other parts that aren’t urgently needed are either shut down or reduce functioning.

All this stress focuses our energy on the task of protecting ourselves as efficiently as possible. Once we accomplish the task of self-protection our minds and bodies get back to normal. The stress response is meant to be short-term.

If, on the other hand, we experienced a continuous stress response throughout the day, week, month or year(s), the effect that these hormones would produce could be catastrophic.

Our blood pressure might be high all the time (potentially causing a stroke or heart condition); our digestion might be faulty (gastrointestinal disease can occur); we might contract diabetes due to high blood sugar; memory might be negatively affected due to improper blood flow to the brain; and our immune system might become compromised.

Chronic stress is a prolonged stress response. It is also, therefore, a major contributor to poor health, disease and death. Almost every aspect of a person’s life, physical and mental, can be affected by chronic stress.

When the stresses in someone’s life begin to feel overwhelming, he runs the risk of becoming chronically stressed. Without utilizing good stress management tools chronic stress can become deadly.

Each of us has our own unique opinions on all kinds of subjects. Our opinions are shaped by our world view, which is how we see and give meaning to the people and events that make up our environment.

Likewise we all differ in the way we handle or respond to the stresses in our lives. A strategy for handling stress may be fine for one person but not necessarily for another.

Stress management treatments needs to be designed for each person individually for stress relief to be possible.

In developing a good stress management program for you I will take the following components into account:

• I look at all the stressors in your life.
• I learn about your particular perspective regarding the things that stress you.
• I learn about the impact they have had on you and why.
• I assess your stress levels under different circumstances.
• I assess the things you may or may not have done to manage your stress.
• I assess any medical issues you may have had or are having.
• I assess your level of intolerance and whether anger plays a role in your stress levels
• I look at your family life to better understand your dynamics

These are some of the important considerations for developing a stress management program to fit your specific needs.

For a more in-depth look at some of the techniques I work on with my clients to relieve stress, read my stress management tips here. 

I have a very personal stake in helping people control their stress and seek relief.

I owned and operated a company with a couple of business partners. We became successful very quickly and needed to hire many employees to manage our company.

While we were in the midst of this growth spurt there was a downturn in our market. We were suddenly thrown into a position where, although we had large amounts of money owed to us, we could not collect. The banks would not extend us the credit we needed and our business was on the verge of collapse.

The stress I felt, being responsible for all my employees and the very life of my business, was overwhelming and I became physically ill.

It was at that point that I decided I needed to do something about my stress level. I worked with a stress management specialist and got better over time.

I am a strong believer in having good stress management skills. I welcome the opportunity of helping you develop yours.

Create a better attitude, better relationships, better mental and physical health. Stress relief is possible! Let’s get started!

Call me at 305-933-9779 or email me for a consultation.

Services are rendered either at my office located at 2999 NE 191 St. Suite 703, Miami, Florida 33180 or through video conference. Serving all of the greater Miami area or, through video conference, anywhere that there is broadband internet connection.