Copyright 2005 Trevor Dumbleton
In order to eliminate or at least control stress, it is
vital to know and understand the causes of stress. Of
course, there are many causes of stress and they are as
varied as the people who suffer from stress, but there are
a few places to look first. And by learning about these
causes of stress, you can figure out where stress is
entering your life.
One of the most common, and most complained about, causes
of stress is work. However, it is not only the day-to-day
tasks and routine pressures of work that can lead to
stress. In fact, the mere concern about keeping a job can
be a source of stress. Unfortunately, the combined stress
of both work itself and the possibility of losing it
creates a sort of double-stress in which people feel they
have to work even harder in order to keep their jobs,
making the stress that much worse.
As well, for those who have not entered the working world
yet, school can be a great source of stress. The constant
pressure of schoolwork, friends, teachers, tests, quizzes,
papers, and everything else can be enough to make anyone
feel like they are in trapped in a vice. In addition, the
deadlines are all immoveable, so students are constantly
under time pressure. And, to make matters worse, there are
often several deadlines overlapping each other,
intensifying the demands on time. Then, once final exams
arrive, there is a lot to re-learn and students need to
spend so much time studying that they can barely sleep.
Needless to say, losing sleep does not help people who are
under stress. Thus, students need to manage stress just as
much as people who work.
Another cause of stress is simple family life.
Unfortunately, though we hope that our home lives can be
sources of relief from daily stress, they can often be
sources of stress all their own. For childen as well as
parents and spouses, the home can often be its own source
of pressure.
For parents, stress can often come from simply worrying
about their children. After all, seeing a child grow up,
make mistakes, go through school, go to college, play
sports, and often learn things to hard way is enough to
make a parent tear their hair out. Thus, despite the joy
that children can bring, they can also be causes of stress
and worry.
Unfortunately, parents can be causes of stress also.
Though they often have their childrens' best interests in
mind, they can also put a lot of pressure onto their
children, causing them to worry not only about school or
life, but also how their parents will react when they hear
about some new event, success, or error. It is as though
there is no place to turn when things go wrong, creating
extra stress. No, it is not easy being a parent, but it
isn't always easy being a child or a teenager either, since
parents can often be causes of stress as much as sources of
comfort from it.
On top of that, spouses can also be causes on stress.
Let's face it, husbands and wives often have expectations
of their significant others and it is not always easy to
live up to those expectations. As well, spouses often
spend a lot of time avoiding certain arguments simply
because they are trying to avoid stress. However, leaving
tension in the air while not resolving it can be a cause of
stress.
Money is also a major cause of stress, simply for the fact
that there never seems to be enough of it. Thus, as the
money keeps going out but it never seems to come in enough,
stress just keeps mounting. Unfortunately, spouses,
children and sometimes parents can often remind us of our
shortfalls and they will often increase the stress. Of
course, that is to say nothing of the continual reminders
from the mortgage or rent, car payments, credit cards and
other bills. And, furthermore, it is rather difficult to
be philosophical about money stress since attempting to put
things into perspective only recalls thoughts about the
money that always seems to be missing. Thus, money stress
just keeps piling up higher and higher and there never
seems to be a way out.
Though this is only a partial list of all the possible
causes of stress, these are some of the most common
sources. However, no matter where the problem is arising,
stress will not make them better. Rather, stress will only
make it harder for people to think about their problems and
try to solve them. Thus, in order to solve the problems
that lead to stress, the best place to start is by managing
the stress, then working to solve the problems with a clear
and uncluttered mind.
About the Author:
LowerYourStress.com: for everything to do with stress. Get
a free ebook to help with your stress levels:
http://www.loweryourstress.com/stress-book.html
