I?ve been reading a bunch on stress (given I?m a workaholic) and I?ve done some thinking: I rarely ever feel stressed so I never have to deal with it. I?ve never understood why this is, though. Maybe I?m stress proof, maybe it?s how I live my life? My question to you is:

How do you deal with stress?

Do you ever lock yourself in the library for days at a time? Do you try to work harder and faster on the task at-hand? Do you work on the easier task first? Do you stop and take deep breaths? Do you tap your pen or move your leg up and down thousands of times a second? Do you tell yourself that the situation isn?t as bad as it seems? Do you ?retreat? and ignore everything else going on?

If you find yourself doing any of these things you may want to read more about the different ways to approach stress.

Reactive: Reactive approaches are the easiest. It?s as simple as responding to stress and trying to cope with it once it arises. This includes stopping and taking a deep breath or quickly tapping your pen and even writing faster. Sure, reactive equals ?immediate? but is limited to the short-term.

Proactive: Being proactive is about developing resiliency strategies: how you spring back to normalcy after being stretched in a hundred directions. This includes conditioning yourself to deal with stress (healthy diet, exercise, relaxation) and even reshaping your personality.

Enactive: Being enactive means creating an environment that eliminates stressors. This is the hardest approach because it takes a lot of work and a lot of time. Though, the benefits are permanent. For many their strategies include time management and even redesigning the way they approach work.

In the coming days I?ll address my personal strategies but, once again, I submit to you:

How do you deal with stress?

[tags]stress, personal, workaholic[/tags]