I think everyone’s probably got to find their own balance because it’s a combination of being able to sit and confront the emotion and understanding what’s in your control or not. Sometimes there are good reasons to be stressed. just simply being aware and not running away and being able to feel that emotion can help. I think it’s because if you run away too much from stress/difficult situations you train your brain into thinking that you’re not good enough to deal with difficult situations and every time you run away from it, that reinforces the idea that you suck.
I think if you look at stress, it’s a response to a situation that feels overwhelming or doesn’t have a solution. Usually, for stress, there is a stressor so if that cause is dealt with, it should relieve the stress. If stress persists and there isn’t really a cause for it then I think is called anxiety. and anxiety is a whole other beast. (sounds weak. idea needs to be refined)
What works well for me is writing
I think it’s useful for me to write out the things I can control and what I can’t. Then I try and focus on what I can do about it.
Sometimes the cause of stress is because you want a certain outcome and you don’t think you can obtain it. But you can’t control any outcomes, all you can control is your actions.
It’s important to remind yourself of what your goals are because our brains have this interesting thing where it changes your goal without you even realizing it.
I try to remind myself of what my intentions are and what I want to happen.
sometimes I then think about a couple of different scenarios like the worst-case scenario and really think if I can accept that outcome. I do sometimes think about in-between scenarios and the best-case scenario.
I’m usually a writer, I need to process it first by writing before talking because I find I talk in circles and can’t remember if I talked about a part or not. But sometimes I do talk to someone about my stress (I try and find someone who will just listen and more just empathize but not give solutions) sometimes it’s useful to get your mind off of something by going for a walk, or doing something fun with friends, watching something (usually always anime for me lol) working out is great, research has shown that meditation has positive impacts on reducing anxiety and increasing life satisfaction (been starting to meditate more + attended a 10-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat)
It’s a combination of trying to tackle the root cause of the stress and if I don’t have enough energy then I try doing things that rejuvenate/rest me so I have energy to work on the root cause of stress