Stress Management Maintenance

Learning a new system for anything is often fun, even exciting. When you first thinking of finding ways to manage your stress, you may have been inspired to banish every iota of unpleasant stress from your life. But after the novelty wears off, stress management must become, like anything else you want to stick to, like a habit. If you do not make a commitment to stress management, and to pacing your efforts so you do not burn out with too much change all at once, you will not stick to it. You have probably already tried all kinds of new ways of living - healthier eating, step aerobics, yoga classes, throwing out half your possessions in an effort to simplify your life - and as soon as the novelty wears off, the practice appears tiresome and you give up on it.

Your stress management goals should be daily ones for a while, as that way they will feel more mangeable. It will also be easier to decide, for example, to go to bed at half past 9 just for today. The thought of going to bed that early every day for the rest of you life may sound unrealistic, even devpressing - you like staying up late. That's alright. Nut if you know it is just for today, it will be easier. The same applies to deciding to eliminate junk food from your diet just for today, or to go to the jog just for yoday.

But stress management is so important to your happiness, health and wellbeing that making it a habit and an integral part of your daily existence is worth a serious sommitment. So do not try to do everything at once - make realistic goals and take gradual steps. If you change your life a little at a time, you will find you are to settle comfortably into the changes. Bit by bit you will adjust your life until you are operating at a healthy Stress Tolerance Level, and when that happens you will feel great.

After you have worked with your stress management plan for 3 months, take the stress test again and record the results in your book. Then you will fill out your Stress Profile again, also recoding your results. With these, you can alter your plan, adjusting your management strategies as your stress profile changes and you gradually get different areas of your life under control.

As you adopt healthier habits, you will be able to set goals for a week, then a month at a time.