by Hannah | Jul 13, 2016 | Media, Stress
You should be able to feel refreshed and revitalised after a decent nights sleep, being able to work the whole day without agitation. After a long hard day at work it is natural to feel tired but in a pleasant way, especially if your job has high job satisfaction. We need to feel like we have a purpose and that we have actually achieved something. Normal fatigue will disappear after a good night’s sleep so you are ready to repeat the next day. However, for a person experiencing fatigue or exhaustion as a result of long-term stress the daily cycle of work and sleep becomes a struggle as they are incapable of relaxing and always feel like they are lacking energy. When you are stressed you do not wake up feeling refreshed and revitalised. Someone experiencing fatigue is fighting a daily battle to keep forcing a smile and enduring the regular stress, whilst all the while the stress and tension is building. When an exhausted person is close to giving up, they may seem irritable or agitated. They have had enough of themselves, their job, their workplace and their family. Everything. There seems like there are not enough hours in the day and they are never getting enough sleep. It all seems too much for one people to handle by himself or herself. Here at BAAM we have a few tips for handling stress. If it does get too much talk to your therapist or join us on one of our Calming Strategy Days (http://www.calmingstrategy.com/) Tips for handling stress and irritability: Nothing beats a hug. When you...
by admin | May 29, 2014 | Anger, Mike Fisher, Stress
Why do I resist doing an Anger Management Programme, even though I know it could potentially be a healthier option for me and as a result, beneficial to my family, work and overall well-being? A friend posted an interesting Facebook up-date today. It went something like this: ‘Somehow we lost 9 pairs of gloves at school last term which resulted in an almighty tantrum on my part on school property. My one New Year Resolution was not to erupt when we lost another. 6 days back and both boys have lost a pair !! I’m doing Vesuvius internally which isn’t a good look! Tips please ? Surely a pair on a ribbon going through the coat is no longer age appropriate!!! Grrrrrrrr &@£!’ She’s a dear friend and she’s crying out for help. She’s not erupting like a volcano on the outside but holding it all in. She thinks that if she finds a fool-proof way to keep the gloves save, her anger will disappear in a puff of smoke. But she’s wrong. As I wrote in reply, ‘It has nothing to with the gloves but everything to do with your anger.’ Let’s see how she responds. Having known her for 20 years, I expect she’ll initially be confused…“I haven’t got anger issues, I’m just mad that I’ve lost ten pairs of gloves, that’s all!” The reason she’s imploding like a volcano internally isn’t about the gloves, it’s about something else that either happened weeks, days or hours ago. It’s the throw-away comment her husband said weeks ago that’s been chipping at her ever since. It’s the tut her...
by admin | May 29, 2014 | Anger, Depression, Resources, Stress, Young People
The headline promises, ‘Michael Gove, Education Secretary, has raised the possibility of longer school hours and shorter holidays.’ “Hooray,” you would expect parents to yell, “no more kids getting under our feet,” but what about the kids?Has anyone asked how the kids feel about working longer hours than any average child in Europe? In a world in which stress is a part of daily life, from keeping your boss happy, to keeping your partner happy, to keeping yourself happy, the demands are enormous and it’s often a stressful balancing act to keep everyone happy. Are politicians adding to the nation’s stress by targeting the youngest, whether it’s out of a genuine desire to improve their lives or more cynically to churn out more automotive slaves, the consequences are clear, kids will be more stressed than ever before. Stress on the rise My seven year old daughter went to sleep crying last night because she was scared about the art lesson the next day. Her fears centered on the teacher, who didn’t explain the frame-work of the lesson enough, which left my daughter feeling unsure of what to do. We all want to perform to the best of our ability and we all want to impress our peers around us. This applies even more to children, than adults. It starts as soon as kindergarten, with competitive play, which then turns the joy of learning into a struggle to excel. Excel in exams, friendship and keeping the teachers happy. Whether we are for them or against them, exams and the pressure to perform at school, creates considerable stress for our children. Compounded with sugary sweets and high...
by admin | May 29, 2014 | Anger, Depression, Domestic, Emotions, Mike Fisher, Resources, Stress
It’s that time of the year when we declare our undying love to our wives, husbands and partners, and if single, look at couples with envious eyes and go out full steam to find love for ourselves. It’s that time of year we spend a small fortune on red roses, fancy chocolates and bottles of bubbly. No expense spared for the people we love. It’s the time of year we are all smiles and love is in our hearts, but it can also be the most stressful. ‘Everything must be perfect,’ is the trap we all fall into. Our loved ones must experience the best we can offer. The card must be perfect, the chocolates must be her favourite, her surprise gift of perfume must be her favourite, and the restaurant must be the best. The stress is already building and it isn’t even Valentine’s Day. We all have primary needs to replenish. We all need to feel loved, cared for, appreciated, valued, desired, respected, and honoured. We rely on our wives, husbands, partners and friends to massage our egos, to give us what we need to feel happy about ourselves and the lives we lead. While Valentine’s Day is the perfect opportunity to give love and soak it up, we may be less stressed if we learnt to massage our own egos and replenish our own needs, rather than rely on somebody else to do it for us. Here are some simple tips to ensure you have a lovely Valentine’s Day, rather than a stressful one. Reschedule for a different day. Falling on a Thursday, Valentine’s Day isn’t...
by admin | May 29, 2014 | Anger, Mike Fisher, Resources, Stress
After saying goodbye to Mike Fisher and all the friends you’ve met over the weekend, the first promise you’ll make is to keep in touch and maintain that buddy support network, which Mike has been so keen on promoting all weekend. Getting into the car, or settling on the bus or train seat, you’ll reflect on the experience you’ve just been through. It’s been a weekend of deep emotions, of tears and frustrations. You’ve learnt things about yourself you never knew possible. You’ve brought up memories that were so deeply buried, you never would have guessed they had ever happened. You would have stepped out of your comfort zone and done something heroic. The first question you ask of yourself is, now what? Am I a different man or woman? Will I ever get angry or stressed again? Was it money well spent? You will soon come to realise it’s yes, yes and yes. You will be a different man and woman because you would have done something different to what you had always done. That decisive decision to take action would have taught you the skills to understand why you get angry and stressed, in ways you never knew possible. You will find yourself living in a new paradigm, of which you weren’t the day before. You will learn about: Managing Stress The Consequences of Stress Shaking the Apple Tree The Feeling Wheel Conflict Resolution The Six Anger Styles Three Communication Styles The Detour Method The Angry Brain The Clearing Method The Flow Process Your Shadow...
by admin | May 29, 2014 | Abuse, Anger, Depression, Domestic, Stress
I’m always getting moaned at for getting angry. The last time it happened was when the kitchen bin was over filled and the plastic bag had been pushed down the sides and hard to get. I never exploded with rage or anything like that, but I did curse and expressed my anger with a heavy huff and buff as I dug my hands into the rubbish to grab the sides to tie up and take it away. I took it as a natural reaction to a smelly and unpleasant experience, but my partner took it personally because she had just cleaned the kitchen and felt that my huff and buff was in somehow directed towards her, but of-course it wasn’t. We’ve all been there. We’ve all had our buttons pressed, which resulted in our anger rearing it’s ugly head, but stop! Is it so bad to get angry every once and a while? After all, anger is indisputably a natural part of life, and in many cases expressing it can be healthy and beneficial. On a therapeutic level, it’s been widely accepted that repressing anger often leads to an accumulated affect and therefore exaggerated outbursts that negatively affect relationships and quality of life. While anger has been found to physiologically allow your body to release tension when its allowed to express itself. Suppressed anger equals a hell of a lot of stress Of course, that doesn’t mean you’re encouraged to express your anger at everything, or at the drop of a hat! Chronic rage sustained over a long period of time, causes both blood pressure and cortisol levels to...
