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If you think about all the times you’ve sought helpful advice in managing your stress and anxiety, there are banal sayings and tips everywhere.
Think about it. How many times have you seen the quote, “Keep calm and carry on,” decorate shirts, hats, or mugs?
Articles about stress management and anxiety prevention are consistently popular reads in magazines, newspapers, and online.
And yet, while all these articles are directed towards what to do when confronted with stress, very few (if any) tell you what not to do.
So if you’re stressed and wondering what you definitely shouldn’t be doing as you work through your emotions, avoid all of the following.
6 Things You Should Avoid When You’re Stressed Out and Overwhelmed
1. Harping on the negative. Hyper focusing on the negative when you’re stressed is one way to guarantee additional stress. When you think negatively about yourself, about others, and the current situation you only further constrict your ability to see solutions, while opening the door for more potential problems.
2. Getting stuck in a ‘worst case scenario’ thinking pattern. Isolating and amplifying your negative thoughts makes the stressful situation larger than life in your mind. A catastrophic mindset like this keeps your outlook dark, while also impeding your creative thinking and problem solving skills.
3. Predicting the future. For some reason when we’re stressed, we seem to take on psychic powers where we think we can predict the future. I’ll never finish this project. I’m going to fail. The rest of my life is doomed because of this bad day. Speculating about the future is always a bad idea, not only because we never know what the future holds, but also because it just borrows more trouble, and of course, more stress.
4. Feeding your irritability. Indulging in your irritable whims and fancies only escalates your stress. It also removes your sense of control over the situation and fuels additional panic.
5. Procrastinating. Putting off whatever needs to be done only encourages more of that free-floating anxiety you feel when stressed. Plus, when you procrastinate, you’re actually working against real solutions by choosing inactivity over activity.
6. Projecting your feelings. If you’re wanting to create long-term stress, particularly in your relationships, projecting your negative feelings towards others is one way to go. Projection is a psychological phenomenon where we project our not-so-great emotions and feelings on others, rather than acknowledging and dealing with them on our own. It can cause unnecessary stress and resentment between both parties, and can ultimately cause irreversible damage.
