How to Make Stress Work for You

At any time, financial conditions can become a source of stress and can significantly complicate both your personal and family life .  

Although stress is a commonly used term, a useful definition of stress for this article is that it is an uncomfortable experience especially when it is overwhelmingly based on personal events and circumstances. This experience is not lost on the self-employed.

Worry Can Take It's Toll on Your Well-bring
Worry over job loss, mounting bills, and family responsibilities can take its toll on your personal well-being. In that the number one thing that couples argue about, even in good economic times, is money, financial stress can take its toll on marriage and other committed relationships. 

Psychosomatic illnesses can result in insomnia, high blood pressure, migraines, stomach disorders, loss of appetite, a reduced desire to engage in fun activities, and irritableness. Even anxiety, depression, and panic cannot be ruled out. Other family members will begin to wonder about the changes in your behavior and the deterioration in your relationship with them.

Know the Sources of Stress
An American Psychological Association survey conducted in 2008 found that eight in ten people identified money (81%) and the economy (80%) as a significant source of stress in their lives. Other sources of stress include housing costs (62%), and job stability (56%). Two years after this study, the situation worsened. Government programs were not and will never be the solution. 

The terrible Obama economy, the only administration that didn't realize at least a 3% growth in our economy, added $10 trillion to our national debt. This was more debt than all the other previous Presidents combined. He essentially borrowed from our future and piled debt on our children and grandchildren.

You Must Survive and Grow
Now that the Obama era is over and with our economic conditions has significantly improved, you as a self-employed person have a great opportunity to survive and grow. And beyond that, be the expert that your stressed out clients look to for help. You have to manage stress in your life by learning all you can about what causes stress in your life, and what works for you in dealing with it. And, then you must make stress work for you rather than against you. 

A wider view of stress is that the uncomfortable experience, correctly identified, should be welcomed and accepted. Use stress to invigorate your creativity and resourcefulness -- to wake up the creativity inside you thus allowing you to invent ways to circumvent or overcome challenging events and circumstances and to help you in your work with your clients.


How do you manage stress in your life? Leave your comments below.

3 Things You Must Know About Depression

Blues or Depression?

Just about everyone gets the blues from time to time - that feeling of sadness or grief that usually
results from unpleasant life experiences.

While many people refer to the blues as depression, however, true clinical depression is as different from the blues as pneumonia is from a head cold.

Blues and Depression
The blues is a temporary and usually normal reaction to stressful life situations. Most cases don't involve physical symptoms, loss of self-esteem, or suicidal thoughts, and the negative state usually passes within a few hours or days.

Depression on the other hand, is an intense, pervasive and long-lasting disorder of mood that attacks the body as well as the mind, often resulting in serious problems in work, social, and physical functioning. 

Unfortunately, some people don't recognize depression for the serious illness it is. They think of it as a personality flaw, a sign of weakness or a character defect.

3 Dynamics of Depression
To go further in depth, depression occurs in at least 3 different dynamics:

1. People in the first category are chronically depressed. Depression is built into them and may be passed from generation to generation.
2.  The second dynamic concerns lasting grief that occurs after a severe loss. Its severity is entirely subjective but might occur with the loss of a child, spouse, or loved one, an amputation, mastectomy, a sizable career setback, or loss of functioning brought about by disease or trauma.
3.  The third dynamic involves loss accompanied by anger. People who have unresolved issues with a departed loved one often do not know that they are angry. This despair can set in after messy divorces or after a close relative or friend passes away. Since they are not able to deal with these problems by interacting with the object of their anger, they take their antagonism out on themselves instead.

Loss is the common element in all three dynamics. It could be a loss of time, an object, an idealization of an object, or a person.

Symptoms of Depression
Symptoms of depression often include disturbances with sleep, appetite and sleeping patterns, sadness nearly every day, sexual functioning, and difficulty thinking, focusing, or concentrating.

There is frequently excessive guilt, feelings of worthlessness, loss of interest or pleasure in activities, and, in severe cases, thoughts of or attempts at suicide.

Some depressions are the result of a chemical imbalance and may only be treated by anti­-depressant medication, some require psychotherapy, and still others a combination of methods.

Chronic Depression
Those with chronic depression can't be helped except by antidepressants. In these cases, psychotherapy may be of little help and a poor use of time and money. 

Time helps a person who has suffered a severe loss as well as an involved other person who listens to the aggrieved as he or she gives words to the pain. 

This does not necessarily have to be a therapist, but if there is not a strong support system, treatment is very necessary. 

Finally, only a strong guide can help people whose loss is accompanied with anger move toward slow recognition and safe expression of their real feelings. This is usually the only path out of melancholy.

The Good News About Depression
The good news is that more than eighty percent of depression sufferers can be treated successfully. If you or someone you care about is depressed, seek help now by contacting a qualified mental health specialist at (773) 614-3201.

What is your views about depression? Do you accept the difference between having the blues and experiencing depression?

Add your comments below.

What You Need to Know about Depression to Control Your Destiny

Almost everyone gets the blues from time to time - that feeling of sadness or grief that usually results from unpleasant life experiences. 

While many people refer to the blues as depression, however, true clinical depression is as different from the blues as pneumonia is from a head cold.

Blues and Sadness

Blues is a temporary and usually normal reaction to stressful life situations. Most cases don't involve physical symptoms, loss of self-esteem, or suicidal thoughts, and the negative state usually passes within a few hours or days. 

Similarly, sadness is an appropriate reaction to bereavement, financial and personal problems, the realization that life is finite, and the symptoms of serious disease. But sadness becomes depression when it continues for weeks or months and interferes with everyday living.

Symptoms of Depression

To be clear, depression is an intense, pervasive and long-lasting disorder of mood that attacks the body as well as the mind, often resulting in serious problems in work, social, and physical functioning. Symptoms of depression often include disturbances with sleep, appetite and body weight, energy, concentration, and sexual functioning. 

There is frequently excessive guilt, feelings of worthlessness, loss of interest or pleasure in activities, and, in severe cases, thoughts of, or attempts, at suicide. Unfortunately, some people don't recognize depression for the serious illness it is. They think of it as a personality flaw, a sign of weakness, a character defect, or, perhaps, a temporary blue mood.

Clinical Depression is an Illness

The fact is, clinical depression is an illness, not a weakness or a passing blue mood. Depressed people cannot simply "snap out of it" or just "pull themselves together," any more than a diabetic can merely snap out of a blood sugar imbalance. And, without appropriate treatment, symptoms can last for months or even years. 

Some depressions are the result of a chemical imbalance and may only be treated by anti-depressant medication. Some require psychotherapy, and still others a combination of methods.

  

Treating Clinical Depression

The good news is that more than eighty percent of depression sufferers can be treated successfully. If you or someone you care about is depressed, seek help now by contacting your family doctor or a qualified mental health specialist at (773) 614-3201

Leave your comments below.