Triggers of Stress

Different issues in life affect each one of us differently. Enabling yourself to find your triggers of stress will allow you to focus on what are the possible solutions for stress relief and to reduce the impact of it. The best to find your triggers is to follow this strategy:

First list down all the different aspects of your life. The list can be endless so focus on the aspects most common to your participation. This can be from family and relationships, career, financial status, self perception etc. From the categories in your list rank from 1 to 10, 1 being that it affects you the most and 10 being if affects you the least.

The second stage is from the ‘symptoms of stress’ section, make a note of what symptoms you experience when you are involved in these particular areas. This activity will help you realise if you experience stress in an area, and from this you can work towards regulating your stress, understanding what you do and why then using methods to relieve and reduce the impact on you.

EXAMPLE:

1 - Career -> always affects me -> I always have stomach cramps, chest pains, I always experience memory problems and nausea when facing a deadlines at work on a day to day basis.

2 - Finances -> sometimes affects me -> I sometimes worry, I sometimes lose my appetite, I sometimes have trouble sleeping when it comes to finances.

3 - Family -> on occasion affects me -> I have on occasion experienced a lack of patience and short temper.

4 - Self-perception -> rarely affects me -> I have experienced rare moments of depression.

5 - Love -> rarely affects me -> I have experienced rare moments or worry.

6….

It is problematic on some occasions as with many people they might find several areas in their life that stresses them. However this may not necessarily be the case because the majority of stresses is caused by a singular stressor. There are different types of stress and sometimes if you lead a certain lifestyle you might get caught unintentionally. Stress, also known as the ‘emotion hacker’ can play with your feelings and sense of judgment easily. Therefore what leads you to have a lack of patience and a short temper at home could be the result of your work life stressing you out. It is a good habit to find the root of your stress once you have found what stresses you, as relieving the root could have a domino effect.