Identifying Stressors

Because I’m a stress management consultant, people tend to assume I’ve always had a handle on coping with my own stress.    But if I’m being honest, I haven’t always responded to stress in the most optimal way.    And if I’m being REAL honest, I was kind of a nightmare. When faced with stress, I was reactive, short-tempered, and unpredictable.    But through developing the Mako Method, I’ve learned to identify my stressors, recognize my warning signs, and manage how I respond to the stressful events in my life – and I want to help you do that same!    What IS stress?   I think of stress as anything that is outside of my control.     And when it comes to stress, we can either react or respond.    When we REACT to stress, we don’t have time to process. You just GO and then most of the time in retrospect you think “Why did I do that?!”  When you RESPOND to stress, you know what it is that stresses you out, you understand that feeling, and you have tools and strategies in place and ready to help you cope with the stress you may experience.    The first step for really understanding your stress and knowing how to respond to it is being able to identify your stressors. To have a better of understanding of your stressors, I encourage you to:  Start a Stress Journal 📝 This might be a formal journal, it might be a note in your phone. The important thing is to start noticing the things causing you stress and your reaction to those and jot them down.   Build up your Coping Strategies 🧘🏽‍  This means loading your toolkit with strategies that work for you to help cope with stressful situations as they arise.  Take a Preventative Approach ⏳ Start putting things in place now, BEFORE you experience stressful events so you’re better prepared to respond to stress when it arises.   

Watch the full video and sign up for our free resource guide with more exercises for coping with stress below!