7 Strategies to Overcome Stress in Your Life

So much to do and so little time! Pressure at work and pressure at home and pressure at school – can you stand the it? Stress is a daily part of life. It is normal!

Photo Credit: kendrickng Flickr via Compfight cc

Stress keeps us productive and moves us forward! Without a manageable amount of stress we wouldn’t be motivated to be productive. Too much stress, however, can negatively affect our health, our relationships, our work, our happiness and everything about our lives!

Since entire books have been dedicated to this issue, I will offer just a few pointers to help the follower of Jesus to daily face and overcome stress.

What are we to do about stress?

Give thanks. The Bible tells us to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Thanksgiving has a powerful effect on how we perceive stressors and difficulties. Simply giving thanks is transformational and helps to reframe that things that cause us stress.

Worship. Again, this is about refocusing on the unchangeable! God is always worthy of worship. Our circumstances do not change his sovereignty and power. We must always realize that he is in control and we need never fear. Worship takes us into the grandeur and glory of the presence of God. This simple and profound act will change the way we perceive the things causing undue stress.

Focus on Jesus. We are following Jesus. He is leading and guiding us. Maybe the stress is in our lives because we have ‘fallen behind’ or strayed a little. Getting our eyes back on Jesus will help us realize what is truly important at the time.

Embrace “good enough.” Only God is perfect! There will always be flaws and shortcoming in our lives. For every project we work on, someone will be able to find something wrong with it. Trying to make everything perfect will drive you crazy! We don’t have to do sloppy and incomplete work but neither do we need to be perfect. Excellence is good enough – perfection is unattainable. Embrace that reality.

Get away and rest. As much as you can, get away from what is causing you stress and rest a while. Jesus was under so much stress from the demands of ministry, he told his disciples that they needed to get away and get some rest (Mark 6:31). We need to break away. Go on a date night. Take a walk in the park.

Put it in a box. What is causing you stress? Put it in a box! That’s right, just pack it up and forget about it! So many times whatever is causing the problem will resolve itself, or you will discover that it just goes away or wasn’t worth the negative effort you were putting into it. And if it is still there after a day, you will probably have clarity and perspective to handle it.

Encourage someone else. There are others dealing with stress and anxiety along with you. Take some time to encourage someone! Call them, text them, visit them. Tell them you love them and are thinking about them. Encouragement is a beautiful thing! It has a way of coming back on the one giving it!

Today – try one or more of these strategies to deal with the stress around you and then pass it on to someone else to help them as well!!

Here’s more for you to help you cope with stress and anxiety.