Adversity feeds stress and stress fuels anxiety. Anxiety – left unchecked – can confuse and disorientate. Too often it’s little more than a thin line that separates control from collapse.
On any one single day we can find ourselves facing either clarity or calamity and we must decide whether we will allow ourselves to cross that line that keeps the two apart.
Circumstances – or a combination of circumstances – can weaken our ability to differentiate between the two extremes. We can also be blind-sided by another individual’s twisted perception of our own reality. What they think and say can undermine our own understanding and appreciation of the person we know ourselves to be.
The result is a difficult or unpleasant situation – the very definition of adversity.
Stress and anxiety are important. We should not fear them. They help us protect ourselves and stay focused.
It’s when we are no longer able to enjoy a good night’s sleep, when our concentration is sketchy and when our daily life suffers that we must realise anxiety is a problem which needs addressing.
It’s important to identify those thin lines of separation that keep our emotions in check and our control in order. Once identified effort should be put into making those lines wider, thicker and higher.
The Five P rule applies…Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.
The only way to know where our own lines are, what protection – if any – they offer and how close we are too them is through knowledge and understanding of self.
While it’s not possible to prepare for some of the specific adversities that we will encounter, it is altogether possible to improve our reaction and coping mechanisms and, through that, our capacity to deal with stress and anxiety.
It starts with building a better relationship and being a better friend to ourselves.
Gary Bentley Counselling 