Connection Between Stress and Change

The Connection Between Stress and Change

Change can come in two forms, positive and negative. Any change in your life means you will have to adapt to it; this adaptation process will most likely cause some level of stress because you may have to change a habit or familiar situation.

Positive and Negative Changes

Positive changes in your life such as getting married, having a baby, or starting a new job can cause your body to go into alert mode. Alert mode is when you anticipate something unknown is about to happen, which could possibly be a threat. You may not consciously feel your body go into alert mode but if it lasts long enough or it intensifies, you will feel overwhelmed and stressed out as you enter crisis mode.

When something negative happens in your life such as losing a job, sudden financial problems, or a death, your body will pass the alert mode and go right into crisis. Losing a job means that you will have to look for a new one that may be quite different from the one you previously worked, which means your daily life may be quite different. Sudden financial problems may cause you to change your lifestyle that you have become accustomed to for many years. Finally, the loss of a loved one means you will no longer have that person physically in your life and that may be too much to bear. All of these situations can cause you to feel depressed, anxious, or an overall sense of doom.

How to Help Your Stress After a Change

There's nothing you can do about changes in life; it's inevitable that you will have to deal with change in the course of your lifetime. However, your reaction to changes can have an influence on your stress levels.

It's Not the Change, It's Your Perception

Bad things happen and when they do, you may feel like you will never be able to recover from it. The good news is that many times, negative changes are only as bad as you perceive them. You may shake your head and think of all the instances when a negative change really was bad and it had nothing to do with your perception. However, if you are able to look at the situation and recognize that things could have been worse or think about how situation in the past has actually resulted in positive outcomes in the future, you may begin to realize that negative changes are not so negative.

Adapting to Changes Quickly and Easily

When you start to feel overwhelmed and anxious, tell yourself that these feelings are normal and will go away as soon as life settles down. Many people who have a difficult time with adjustment do so because they do not know how to handle the changes in their life. If you are able to hold on during this small storm rolling through this part of your life and work through it calmly, you will be able to adapt much more quickly and successfully.

Use What You Learn from Changes

The connection between stress and change can help you remember important lessons you can use later in life. If you didn't experience some level of stress from a situation, you may not notice how much of an impact that situation could have on your life now or in the future. Stress is meant to tell you something isn't normal and it motivates you to do something about it. After time, you will learn what you need to do in similar situations without becoming overly stressed.

Understanding the connection between stress and change can help you recognize what is going on with your body and mind during a busy time in your life. Even though your stress may be temporary, it is still important that you work through it and help your body return to its normal state as soon as possible by either taking medication, using basic strategies in stress management or discussing the situation with a counselor. Change can always cause stress, but how you perceive and react to that change will have a major impact on your well being.