Stress and anxiety plague over 80% of Americans. The wear and tear that stress puts on our bodies is far from just being discomforted and drained—it has profound physical implications as well. Chronic stress a known leading cause of disease and early death. Stress and anxiety make it difficult for us to maintain our attention and focus on our mission for self improvement. The risk is just way to high for us not to take this matter very seriously. Sure we all are aware it’s best to try and not stress out, but few of us take serious measures to get a handle on and a strong hold over stress.

Prescription sedatives and anti-anxiety drugs are being handed out at alarming high quantities. They put a bandaid on the root causes of stress and put such a toxic load of manmade chemicals into our bodies. There are a slew of significant side effects that accompany these prescriptions. There are ways we can cope and manage stress. If your current methods of coping with stress are not contributing to your greater emotional and physical health such as smoking, drinking or prescriptions, try your best to find more productive options.

No single method for dealing with stress works for everyone but the following suggestions can definitely help you head in the right direction:

• Avoid difficult people.
• Deal with problems head on by doing your best to anticipate and prevent them.
• Learn to say no. It’s important to know your limits and to not push yourself beyond them.
• Be more assertive and express your feelings rather than bottling them up.
• Identify the sources of stress in your life which may not be too obvious. It’s easy to overlook your own stress-inducing thoughts, feelings and behaviors.
• Step back and look at the big picture. Ask yourself how important a stressful event you are all wrapped up in will be in the long run.
• Don’t try to control the uncontrollable. Many things in life are beyond our control, particularly the behavior of other people. Rather than stressing out over them, focus on the things you can control, such as the way you choose to react to problems. Also, realize when things don’t go our way, it’s usually a blessing in disguise. Focusing on your accomplishments and blessings can do wonders for keeping things in proper perspective.
• Always take time to nurture and care for yourself with proper sleep, nutrients, exercise and fun.
• Most importantly, accept the things we cannot change. If we have given it our best shot, that’s all we can do. Be at peace—at times it just simply is what it is. Dust yourself off, set your face like a flint towards the future and push on!