Business Mentor Notes: Ayo Gutierrez-Abanggan is a member of The Queen City Toastmasters Club and International Marketing Group. She is the Regional Manager of the Self-reliance Services and Perpetual Education Fund in Region 3. Together with her husband, they run the EC&C training and consultancy business and a branch of Einstein School for Kids . They also co -authored a motivational book entitled Almost is the Same as Never.
Ayo wrote her debut book , Buy 1 Fake 1 which will be out in selected National Bookstore outlets soon. She loves to write , travel and play the piano .
Today, more than ever, stress ranks as the leading cause of death in the world.
The body is known to self-heal. Several mountain climbers who met accidents and fell into rock crevices for a couple of days remained alive because of this. However, like a Plimsoll mark of a ship, the body has its loading limitations- particularly when dealing with stress.
FIGHT OR FLIGHT
Stress is our inside-out reaction to outside-in circumstances, people or events. It comes in all shapes sizes and circumstances. Certain events act as “stressors,” triggering the nervous system to produce hormones to respond to a perceived danger. Specifically — the adrenal glands produce adrenaline and cortisol and release them into the bloodstream. This speeds up both heart and breathing rates, increases blood pressure and contractions in major muscle groups. These and other physical changes help us to react quickly and effectively under pressure.This stress response is commonly called the fight or flight response.
But even low levels of continuous stress can damage our health. The nervous system remains slightly activated and continues to pump out extra stress hormones over an extended period, leaving us feeling depleted or overwhelmed, and weakening our immune system.
How do we bring stress to our system?
* Financial constraints due to debts, huge medical expenses and high cost of living.
* Unmet deadlines and failed expectations at work or business breed disappointment and frustrations.
* Unrealistic attitudes and goals get us out of control.
* Suppression of feelings.
* Losing perspective in life.
There are positive stressors and negative stressors: a wedding can cause stress and so can a divorce. Winning the lottery can cause tress and so can being broke. Changing careers can be stressful and so can retiring. Change can cause stress and so can boredom.
You see, everything is a stressor.
Here’s the problem: the body doesn’t know the difference. The mind may but the body reacts the same to any stressful situation.
WATCH OUT FOR THE SIGNALS
Each of us regularly must confront people and issues that bring with us a great potential for stress. We cannot stick our head in the sand and ask the world to go away. We must deal in the hectic, fast-paced, ever-changing world of business and relationships. And we must survive as well as we can as we go about these daily routines. Learning to recognize signs of tension and anxiety in others can make us aware of our own physiology and can work towards becoming calm. Watch out for tense people because the energy they bring to the table can be draining at all levels. Never let our guard down.
Sometimes we are not aware that it is usually us who bring stress to our lives. Pressure phrases like”I have to”,”I must”,”I should”,”I don’t have the time”, exacerbate feelings of stress. We need to listen for such words in our thoughts and speech, then replace them with more relaxed phrases- ”I may”,” I choose to”, I will make the time”.
I have also observed that some people resort to some kind of addiction such as overeating when they have heavy burdens to carry. Satisfying cravings of any kind like nicotine, chocolate, caffeine and alcohol is no way to help ourselves feel good. Recognize addictions for what they are, steer clear away from them and find a healthy alternative . C.S. Lewis put it in his character, screwtape to say this word of wisdom : Whatever their bodies do affects their souls.
Author Paul Wilson offers some ways of coping up with stress from his book The Little Book of Calm.
1. Meditate– Concentrate on a movement , a sound, an image, a thought- without strain and without concern if your attention wanders. Before you know it, you will be meditating.
2. Make an appointment– Make an appointment with yourself to deal with worries at a specific time in the future. The more seriously you treat that appointment, the more efficiently you’ll deal with the problem.
3. Eat 80:20– The ideal calm diet maintains a ratio of alkaline (wholegrain, cereals, vegetables, etc.) to acids ( coffee, meat sugar, processed foods, preservatives, etc.) of about 80:20.
4. Shelve your worries– Decide on a way of storing your worries each evening before you go to bed. Whisper them into an envelope or write them in a diary, then store and forget them. Chances are they’ll be greatly reduced, if not solved, by morning.
5. Breathe less- A deeply relaxed person breathes only 5-8 times a minute. By slowing your breathing down to that rate, you will quickly relax.
6. Turtle– The pace you move has a direct relationship with the way you feel. Slow down your movements, consciously relax your gestures and expressions, and before you know it, you’ll be relaxed.
7. Simplify– The fewer the things you must do in life, the fewer things you own, manage or responsible for, the fewer are the stresses that accompany them.
8. Reflect on beauty– Do this, not for the stimulation, but for the elevation.Because you’ll find calm where you find beauty- whether it is natural or man-made.
9. Run for your life– Running is one of life’s antidotes to stress. It’s simple, requires no special training and it begins to take effect within the first 200 meters.
10. Listen for the quiet- Quiet is the essence of calm. You cannot force quiet, you can only accept it when it comes. But if you listen for it, really listen, you will find it in the most unexpected places.
OUR GREATEST ASSET
Our greatest asset in this world is no less than our bodies. Take good care of it and we will be able to reach our fullest potential. Disregard and abuse it, then we are sure to reap an imminent disintegration of both mind and spirit. Health is over-all: mental, emotional, physical, spiritual and social. We cannot just focus on one aspect to reach our optimum level of functionality. A well-built body enhanced by daily routine at the gym cannot stay strong when one cannot control his moods. A highly sociable person can still feel emptiness in the absence of spiritual guidance . Nourishment of the body is as essential to the nourishment of the mind and soul. The key to everything is balance.
Life unfolds in ways that do not always match to our ideals. Our relationships are sometimes volatile. Work and business are a constant struggle. Realize this: people are not machines! We need to recognize our bodily limitations. Life is to be lived one joyous minute at a time. Stress keeps us locked in the future or the past and out of the present. Stress can be the single greatest threat to our happiness, joy and a truly rewarding life.
So today, let’s do ourselves a favor and bust that stress away!
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You may contact Armando “Butz” Bartolome for questions and more information.
By email: [email protected]
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Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/franguru/
