At school level, a simple request from a teacher for me to come and see her would send me into anxious annie mode, at Varsity the workload or a potential all-night-in-town got me munching on my nails and then hitting the working world meant night-upon-night of restless sleep knowing the mountain of work that I would face in the morning.

For years I let anxiety be my guide – it ruled and I listened. I was a self-diagnosed insomniac and thought it normal to live with tension headaches; until such time as I applied my psychology brain to real life and developed a work-in-progress-solution to my stress levels.

Let’s get real… Stress is guaranteed in the world we live in today – if it’s not job security or money related then its worrying about bringing up our children in this techno-savy scary world. Either way, stress is something we cannot escape. But what we can be in control of, is the way that we manage our own stress levels – what we do with stress.

If I were to drop a penny in a quiet room, we’d all, likely, turn to see where the noise had come from, right?? Well, when I started practicing this very concept, internally – it revolutionised my stress levels!! We need to practice quieting ourselves (our minds), to see where the noise is coming from.

So how do we do this?

Has anyone ever been feeling anxious and then written a to do list and felt the weight lift off??

The reason for this is that stress is formed in our minds, and usually only because we haven’t given ourselves any options but to dwell on the negative side of a specific issue, thus creating further anxiety. And so the simple question “What are my options” – asked to a quiet mind, will not only bring calm, but actually triggers all the learning centers in our brains, meaning that you are now open to coming up with solutions.

By giving yourself options you are bringing your subconscious anxious thought to the front of your mind – giving yourself the space to actively deal with this thought. Options can range from actual quick fixes (write a study timetable), to reasoning with yourself, or even deciding to let this ‘issue’ go as this is problem for another day.

I have seen the effects of asking the simple question above, take a client from constant anxiety attacks to the point that she was hospitalized…to an empowered being.

And if this isn’t enough to convince you that stress can be overcome then this might…“Stressed spelled backwards is desserts” {Of course it is}