Coaching for stress management

Coaching for stress management is simple but effective with mindset coaching. It can help you to perceive things differently and change how you think, feel or believe, how you see and hear things differently so they become more manageable and even the opportunity to be rid of them for good.

Understanding what stress is would be the first step.

It is a normal, healthy – if uncomfortable – and necessary reaction to any real or perceived threat to your well-being, be that physical, emotional or psychological. Stress can be positive and drive you to achieve and meet deadlines, and arrive at meetings on time – or it can become negative and debilitating if it builds too much and you feel unable to meet those demands placed on you by the circumstances.

It is the fight or flight reaction – your first urge to run away from the threatening situation and get to safety. If you can’t you may need to ‘fight’ first to get away.

Understanding your personal stressors is the second step – why you feel threatened, uncertain, insecure and in danger. These threats might be practical, for example, a threat to health or physical danger; maybe it is environment like noise or temperature; or psychological such as internal fears or triggers and emotional discomfort like abuse or bullying.

Until you manage your stressors and make the necessary changes to reduce them or remove them, the stress will remain. How strong it is and how distracting and uncomfortable depends on the situation you are in, the resources you might have to help you or the decision-making you may have to do to resolve the issues.

Physical symptoms may manifest in your torso, stimulated by your thoughts that create feelings – unconscious defence mechanisms and survival instincts to literally save your life, or overthinking with one problem after another coming to mind and creating the stress reaction. Stress is physiological and long-term, it really can harm your body and ruin careers or relationships because it isn’t understood or nothing changes over a long period of time.

This is what happens when people ‘burn out’ – the ongoing stress is too much for too long and your body or mind can no longer keep you safe and well so your body ‘turns off’ to rest and recuperate. You don’t have a choice, your unconscious mind will just take over - because it has to.

In taking you from stress to success, the first step is awareness, the second is understanding and then there are tips and techniques you can use to help yourself. The main step is to make those absolutely necessary changes!

These changes might be small tweaks or an overhaul of your lifestyle.  

It could be boundaries – learning to say no or at least, not saying yes to everyone else’s needs and sacrificing your own. It could be writing things down as reminders or setting phone alarm reminders for quarterly check-ins, routine procedures and talking to friends and family generally and routinely.

Or maybe you need to change your career or job, your company or location;  your relationships and recognise your needs that only you can realistically meet, with help from some people who will; maybe you need to change your diet, exercise or thinking habits to create more effective ones for you.  Or you could change your beliefs and expectations that fit with your natural flow, your self and your needs and tendencies rather than keep fighting against them to meet social norms or someone else’s expectations of you.

How could coaching and NLP help you?

Working consciously with goals and action steps, moving from unconsciousness to awareness and finding the right ways that work with you and your self to make the changes that will help you, enhance your life and outlook and take you to the success you naturally strive to achieve!