Being Self Motivational to Handle Stress

Posted on February 24th, 2009 by admin in self motivational

Stress is what we feel when we find ourselves in a situation that we consider threatening for whatever reason. It is linked to our ‘cave man’ defence mechanism known as ‘fight or flight’. When our ancestors wandered round a corner and came face to face with a sabre toothed tiger this automatic reaction would save their lives. They would literally be pumped up ready to fight or if more appropriate to show a clean pair of heels. What pumped them up and still does for us today is the quick release of adrenalin into the system. When it happens today we can’t find any sabre tooth tigers to blame and so become confused as what to do. Self motivational people see the situation for what it is ie the body trying to be helpful and see it in a positive light.

So how does that work I hear you say? Well self motivational people see it as an offer of help from nature rather than a threat. Our ancestors didn’t get stressed by the arrival of a clutch of unpaid bills in the post or recieving a demanding e mail from their boss they were always in a physically threatening situation. Hence their reaction to the stimulus was to get active. And that is exactly what self motivational people will often do when they feel stressed, they take some exercise. Taking regular exercise is one of the ways to reduce stress. If you continually find yourself in stressful situations and don’t work off the natural reaction to it you may begin to suffer cronic stress.

Stress is not always bad even in less physical situations. It may get you into an exhilarated state so that you can use your excitement to perform well. For example most people put any form of public speaking very high on scale of stress giving situations. However self motivational people who enjoy speaking in front of groups know that the rush associated with stress is again the body helping you to perform well in this situation. Public speakers and entertainers will deliberately pump themselve up to ensure they give a good performance.

A key thing to remember is that it is your body producing the stress because it is trying to help you. So if it is you that is causing it then you can learn to control it. Other ways to control stress are to recognise that it is the way your mind is interpreting the situation which is causing the stress. Self motivational people look at the situation and instead of magnifying the perceived threat they actively visualise it as even smaller than reality. A classic self motivational technique for dealing with stressful interviews by a boss who is seen as dominating is to visualise him/her naked and vulnerable in say their bath and the threat recedes.

While these techniques can help you to be more self motivational and deal with stress, long term exposure to stressful situations often needs medical intervention to help stabilise them.

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