Stress is a normal and natural response to a demand, challenge, or change. It can also be described as the biological response to a threat. In other words, when the body interprets something or someone as a source of imminent danger, it initiates a response designed to increase the chance of survival. Today, most stress isn’t tied to something that’s life-threatening, but it can still have a negative effect on relationships, health, and wellbeing.
Fortunately, stress doesn’t have to rule your life. By learning how to change your perspective, break negative habits, and build mental and emotional resiliency, it’s possible to significantly reduce the effect that stress has on your life. At Blair Wellness Group in Beverly Hills, we offer life coaching services aimed at helping clients identify stressors, change how they respond to stress, and build a strong foundation of mental health, so they can live their life to their fullest.
The Problem with Stress
The word “stress” has a negative connotation, and for good reason. It’s associated with feeling anxious, on edge, unable to get ahead, trapped, exhausted, burned out, and more. These emotions not only affect how you feel about yourself and your life, but they can also have a negative effect on your relationships, family, and career. Without proper management, stress can contribute to additional complications such as health problems, addiction, and other harmful behaviors. Leaving stress to go unchecked can make you more susceptible to heart disease, high blood pressure, and many other serious illnesses.
Common Causes of Stress
There is nearly an unlimited number of causes of stress. Stress can be linked to problems with a relationship, an unfulfilling job, past trauma, or even a mental health condition. It’s important to note that in the case of a mental health condition, not all life coaches may be qualified to assist. At Blair Wellness Group, however, Dr. Blair is a licensed clinical psychologist with extensive education and training. So, whether your stress is caused by poor work-life balance, an unhappy marriage, addiction, PTSD from past trauma, or all of the above, Blair Wellness Group can help.
How Life Coaching Can Help to Reduce Stress
Stress in just about any form is related to a lack of balance. Working, eating, or even worrying too much can cause you to feel as though you have no control over your life. Likewise, not taking enough time for yourself or to build healthy relationships can also throw your life out of balance. Stress is inevitable, but learning to balance your life physically, mentally, and emotionally, will significantly reduce the effect it has on you. The following are just a few ways that life coaching can help bring things back into balance.
Identify Stressors
The first step toward reducing stress is to understand what is causing it in the first place. While it might seem obvious to some people, for others, it may not be that simple. For instance, financial problems are a stressor for many people. But, if your money issues are tied to a spouse’s gambling addiction then the cause of your stress lies much deeper than just having difficulty living within your means. By identifying the true cause of your stress, only then can you make a plan for how you will manage it.
Changing Perspective
Have you ever noticed that some people just seem to handle stress better? Or, perhaps you feel as though some people don’t have all of the things to deal with that you do. It’s easy to get wrapped up in your problems and feel like bad things always seem to come your way, but in reality, everyone is dealing with something. The difference is in how you perceive your situation and how you think about stress.
Dwelling on the negative or worrying about what could happen will only make you feel worse. If you want to lessen the impact of stress on your mind and body, it’s as simple as changing your mindset. You can do this by challenging your negative thoughts — are things really as bad as they seem? Could this difficult event be seen as a learning experience? By focusing on changing your perspective, you’ll often find that your thoughts or preconceived notions are causing more stress than actual events.
Break Unhealthy Habits
Stress is known to increase unhealthy behaviors such as overeating and alcohol use, and in turn, those unhealthy behaviors increase stress levels. This creates a vicious cycle where stress and bad habits feed off of one another. Life coaching can help you address those unhealthy habits so you can start down a path of health and healing. Breaking bad habits or facing addiction isn’t easy, but in doing so you’ll feel in more control of your life and as a result, stress will have less control over you.
More Benefits of Life Coaching on Stress Reduction
Everyone’s situation is different, but no matter what you’re experiencing, a life coach can show you how to feel more in control over your life and less susceptible to stress. The following are just a few of the things a life coach can help you with:
- Progress beyond a stagnant, unhealthy, or distressing situation
- Learn effective methods for coping with change
- Focus on strengths and positives instead of the negative
- Enhance communication skills
- Eliminate negative self-talk
- Develop meaningful goals that promote purpose and fulfillment
- Promote self-confidence and motivation
- Teach mindfulness and other stress management techniques
Life Coaching in Beverly Hills, Irvine, and Newport Beach
If you feel “stuck”, anxious, unfulfilled, and generally stressed out, it’s important to know that you don’t have to just deal with it. Stress can take a severe toll on your mental and physical health, so if you’re ready to make a positive change in your life, consider life coaching from Blair Wellness Group. Whether you want to feel better about a major life change, create a better work-life balance, or you just want to not feel so affected by daily life stressors, we can help. Call 310-999-4996 today to schedule an appointment.
