*Physical Symptoms: headaches, muscle tension, fatigue, digestive issues, and changes in appetite or sleep patterns.
*Emotional symptoms: anxiety, irritability, mood swings, difficulty concentrating and feelings of overwhelm.
*Behavioural symptoms: social withdrawal, increased alcohol or substance use, unhealthy eating habits and impulsive behaviour.
So, what can we do to help ourselves, when our stress bucket gets full?
When this happens, many of us can feel completely overwhelmed. All too often we can feel completely stuck in a situation, and not see a way forward. Sometimes, we just need to be able to take a step back and try to look at our situation from a different perspective.
Health and wellbeing therapist Martin Furber
Ask yourself the following questions:
1. What needs my urgent attention? When we are overwhelmed, things can often seem to merge into one huge problem, that we may feel there is no way out of. It can be a good idea to prioritise which things are more urgent than others. You may find this easier when they are written down. This can help us with the next stages below.
2. Which items or situations could be changed? Writing things down can be helpful. Give the items a score out of ten in terms of how much control you have over the situation, for example, where one is no control whatsoever, and ten is full control; it can help you to decide just how easily it would be to change something. If you have little or no control on something, then you may be better focusing your energy on a matter that you have more control over.
3. Can anyone help me? Reaching out to a friend for help is not a sign of weakness. Sometimes we don’t want to involve people we know, and it can be helpful to talk things through with an outsider. Remember there is lots of free help out there. Try taking a look at the Hub of Hope hubofhope.co.uk. There are lots of support groups, counselling services and other resources you can contact.
4. What helpful coping strategies could I use? Think about things you may have done in the past to cope with difficult situations. We all have amazing resources that we can use to help ourselves, sometimes when things get too much, it is easy to lose sight of them. It can be helpful to think back to the last time you dealt with any type of similar situation and try to reconnect with the same feelings and resources.
5. What unhelpful coping strategies have I been using that I should think about stopping? Have you used or engaged in something that started off as a coping mechanism, but is now proving to be an issue in its own right?
If you are in a mental health crisis and need urgent help, please call 0800 952 1181 to speak with First Response.
