Guest Author - Stephanie L Watson

College, Graduation, Moving, A New Job, Marriage, Children, Job Loss, Divorce, Death – These are all transitions in life that we all experience in one way or another, either personally or via people we know. Believe it or not, many good transitions can be just as stressful on the body and mind as bad transitions.

The affect any transition has on you has more to do with how you handle stress in general than the specific stressor. There are some basic coping mechanisms that you can use to deal with any stress negative or positive.

First, remember that feelings stress is not always a bad thing. When you feel stress remember that this is just the way that your body tells your mind that you have a situation to deal with. Whether it is good, moving to a new house, or bad, losing your house to foreclosure, your body will give you signals. Butterflies in your stomach, sleep disturbances are a couple of examples.

When you have a positive stress like buying a new house it is usually pretty simple to realize that you're just excited about this change. But when the stress is negative, it is a little harder to put a positive spin on it in order to calm down.

First you need to understand what is causing your stress. Once you know the cause of the stress you can deal with it either via self help – books, friends, online groups - or via outside help such as medication, counselors, coaches and other professionals.

Self Help:

Start a Stress Diary – Just keep a diary every day and always mention the date, time, and type of stress you are experiencing and what caused it. Make sure to rate your stress on a scale of 1 to 10 about how stressed you feel and mention what symptoms you are experiencing. Write down how you handled this or whether you did not handle it. Keeping a stress diary will help you figure out what is causing your stress and whether these are situations beyond your realm of control or whether you can change some things about your actions and reactions to lesson the stress.

Talk to a Friend – Sometimes talking to a good friend who will be honest with you can help you deal with stress better. Do not pick a friend who will just be supportive but rather who will be supportive and brutally honest with you about your situation.

Read Books – There are many helpful books that you can get that will help you deal with your stress and move forward in a positive way if you actually do the work the books suggest.

Outside Help:

Counselors - A good counselor can be a person who helps you talk about your stress and give you ways to deal with it including possibly prescribing medications. If you really need medications do not be critical to yourself about this. Many people need medications through out their lives for a variety of reasons, why mental issues cause such moral dilemmas I will never understand.

Coaches – A Life Coach can be someone that helps you identify stressors in your life, the cause of them, and how to eliminate or reduce them or learn coping mechanisms. A life coach is more results oriented than a counselor and if you are someone who follows instructions well this may be for you.

Other Professionals – Maybe your stress is due to not being able to do everything and be everything. You can hire other professionals to help you with just about any task from cleaning your house, to cooking dinner. Consider getting rid of some of your stress by outsourcing the stressful parts which may open you up to having a more positive life.