Our day-to-day experiences throw us in situations which sometimes bring out the worst and most negative sides of our personalities
which we hardly knew existed. A quick questionnaire to find out how you react at certain times and in certain given situations when faced by them and how to play truant with these
stressors.
The Home Front
1. Do you often postpone the long pending jobs around the house, waiting for a more appropriate and relaxed time?
2. Are you unable to get a sound sleep, with a thousand worries weighing on your mind?
3. Do you dislike the idea of giving your neighbor a lift even though you happen to be going in the same direction as him?
4. When a friend invites you and the family for a meal, do you decline
thinking that you will have to return the gesture?
5. Are you often fatigued and exhausted?
6. Is there lack of energy and enthusiasm in you even in the middle of a party where everyone else seems to be having the time of their lives?
7. Do you often feel unfortunate for not having born with a silver (if not golden) spoon in your mouth?
8. Do you dislike the rainy season due to the baggage of discomfort it brings along with it- puddles of water, dirty shoes, wet clothes and a greasy skin? In the same breath, do you often complain of the winter being ‘too cold to being comfortable’ and the summer season ‘too hot to move out of the house’?
9. Has the thought of having sex with your partner lately seemed unappealing?
10. Do you grumble each time you find the traffic light red on reaching?
11. When your kids approach you, requesting you for help in their homework, do you often send them away with the lame excuse of ‘would you mind coming a little later?’
12. Has the sound of your own laughter lately seemed strange to your own ears? (It being a rare event)
The Workplace
1. Do you often feel that you are carrying a horse’s weight on your back?
2. Does your morning start with grumbling about the heavy schedule of the day making you feel lousy and a feeling of exhaustion overcoming you?
3. Do you feel a twinge of envy each time you hear of a colleague’s promotion howsoever well deserving he may be?
4. When a new project is assigned to you, do you feel cheated, singled out and discriminated against?
5. Have you often resented the camaraderie existing amongst other colleagues?
6. Are you often rude, sarcastic and snap at your colleagues?
7. Do you find it difficult to share a joke or even laugh during the lighter moments in the office?
8. Are you often stressed and tired at the end of the day, thinking you did too much work?
We’re sure you are not as bad as we made you out to be but if the answers to these questions are mostly in the affirmative, you probably need to take a closer look at what is making you the negative, grumbling, grudging person that you have become and never were. Accepting it is a battle half won. The chances are that you, in all probability, are stressed out and need to unwind a little. Be it our anxiety, mind-body exhaustion or our erring attitudes, we often forget that stressors, if not escapable, are fairly manageable and treatable.
Living in a more organized manner and effective time-management can save us from nagging day to day problems which convert themselves into major stressors. A bad time-manager invariably ends up a much harried one at the end of the day. Getting organized in various fields of life- be it a holiday trip, household, office, or management of children’s affairs- can be a sure step towards avoiding stress. Not being too judgmental, it is always easier to think and act when one is not under stress. This can be attained by seeing the lightness of a certain situation rather than addressing every event gravely. A sense of humour allows us to perceive and appreciate the incongruities of life and provide moments of delight in serious situations, besides its healthful benefits. Not being in analert mode always helps maintain the equanimity of mind and promotes clear thinking.
All that is required is a bit of re-orientation and planning. By adjusting one’s lifestyle to one’s body clock, loading and offloading to one’s requirement and prioritizing the tasks at hand goes a long way in reducing the everyday stress. Going one day to work without leaving the house spic and span, the beds made, the plants watered, the house dusted and cleaned to perfection will do no harm in any way, but by doing so, you will be destressing yourself and giving yourself the much deserved break. Make bold decisions in your favour to implement the changes in your lifestyle.
There are ways to combat what has been dubbed as ‘the disease of the next millennium’, and nothing works better than positive thinking, planning and reorientation. To sum it up, we might have to trade off some of our present priorities to give way to the new ones but it will be well worth the effort. Conquering the mind may seem to be a mammoth task but tackle it with a smile and there may not be too many miles to go. The result- a relaxed and fulfilling existence.