Dr. Randy Carlson
“Americans are stressed out, and they are dealing with that stress in an unhealthy way.” Those are the words of Helen Mitternight, spokesperson for the American Psychological Association’s Practice Directorate, which, in partnership with the National Women’s Health Resource Center and iVillage.com, conducted a telephone survey that serves as a ringing wake up call for people dealing with stress.
The news isn’t good. The poll of over 2,100 adults, taken earlier this year, showed that people overwhelmingly react to work and family stress by engaging in distinctly bad behaviors – such as comfort eating, making poor diet choices, smoking and inactivity – and are more likely to report hypertension, anxiety, depression or obesity.
Women, the survey indicated, describe feelings of nervousness, wanting to cry or lacking energy; men were more likely to experience sleeplessness or increased expressions of irritability and anger. About 12 percent more women than men said they coped with stress by eating – a practice that actually birthed fatigue, insomnia, and guilt, adding to their perceived stress.
Stress levels were highest for those who said they were responsible for making the primary health care decisions for their families. Other factors contributing to stress for both women and men included concerns about money, work, or the state of today’s world. “Everybody experiences stress,” said Russ Newman, PhD, JD, executive director of the Practice Directorate.
“The key is how effectively people deal with and manage stress.” Jesus Christ actually affirmed that your life would be burdened by stress; not exactly an encouraging word. But His statement was also punctuated with a promise of hope in John 16:33. “But take heart! I have overcome the world.” As a Christian, you have the incredible resource of God’s presence and power to help you cope with stress. Tapping into that resource, though, requires some work on your part. But listen – I guarantee that if you put in the effort on the front-end to consistently access Him, the personal payoff on the back-end will be a “de-stressed,” not distressed, existence. You’ll be happier, healthier, and your intimacy with God will grow.
Here are four practical, Biblical responses to the stress in your life:
1. Live intentionally: You choose, in advance, how you will live. Therefore, strive to look over the hill and put what you’re dealing with into a bigger perspective. Here’s a reminder how to do that:
• Embrace your purpose! Do you see a need today that motivates you to action – that gives you a purpose? The Bible not only spells out your purpose for any given situation you’re facing; it also gives you the direction you need to fulfill that purpose.
• Create a picture of the future! Take the pieces of your life puzzle – your skills, talents and giftedness – and begin putting them together to create a future vision you can really see.
• Wrestle with your passions! Passion is the outcome of knowing your purpose and having your picture; now you have to set aside your fears or insecurities to commit to making the picture of what God has given you a reality.
• Detail your plans! Go about this process step-by-step, looking realistically at the obstacles and coming up with “work-arounds” in order to make your plan doable.
• Commit to perseverance! There will be those who’ll say you’ll never make it. Criticism is inevitable, but don’t be swayed. The Intentional Life is something you commit to achieving. You will make it – you’re on your way to something better, and God is with you.
2. Pray about all things: In Philippians 4:6, Paul directs you not to be “anxious” – a word literally interpreted in the Greek as “to be troubled with cares.” A wonderful de-stressing benefit of prayer is that it allows you to share the load with the Lord. In order to pray to God, you must exercise faith, and when you pray in faith, you give your burdens to the Lord. As a result, you’ll find yourself feeling less anxious because you are better able to give your pressures to God and trust Him for the outcome. An active prayer life also develops a sense of discipline that carries over to other areas, helping you reject unhealthy coping mechanisms.
3. Don’t allow your emotions to run your life : Oftentimes you simply “think your way” into problems by unnecessarily worrying about them, letting your emotions dictate your attitude. Uncontrolled emotions make it easy to exaggerate the true impact of the stressors in your life, causing them to appear far bigger than they really are, resulting in poor decision-making. You will regulate your emotions when you first “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
4. Don’t overreact, but think things through: Continuing that idea from 2 Corinthians, you can’t passively take something captive. It’s a forceful act of your will, requiring patience. Yet how many times have you allowed the first thought that enters your mind to take you in the wrong direction? When you overreact, you can be either overly pessimistic or far too optimistic, leaving you unbalanced. Throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon talks of the virtue of thoroughly applying his mind to consider his thoughts (Ecclesiastes 7:25 and 8:16 are just two examples). He learned the wisdom of taking his time and thinking twice.
Yes, you’ll be stressed out at times. Stress will always be something you have to deal with – but it doesn’t have to dictate your life. Take control of how you cope with stress, and let the trial by fire refine you into all you can be for Jesus Christ.
According to anxietycentre.com, 40 million people in the U.S. this year will experience impairment because of an anxiety condition. Moreover, those who experience anxiety and stress have a very high propensity for drug use and addictions.
With the right help and healing, anxietycentre.com states those who have experienced an anxiety condition can:
• Regain control of their health and life
• Live a balanced, happy and fulfilling life
• Have happier and more fulfilling relationships
• Become the individual they always thought they could be
• Reconnect with life in a more rewarding and satisfying way
• Live an unrestricted lifestyle, ready to tackle any challenge
• Live a more accepting life, appreciating uniqueness and imperfection
• Experience a more stable work environment
• Have freedom from medication and/or drug use
• Reconnect with their faith and feel God’s presence
• Have a closer relationship with God.
“Americans are stressed out, and they are dealing with that stress in an unhealthy way.” Those are the words of Helen Mitternight, spokesperson for the American Psychological Association’s Practice Directorate, which, in partnership with the National Women’s Health Resource Center and iVillage.com, conducted a telephone survey that serves as a ringing wake up call for people dealing with stress.
The news isn’t good. The poll of over 2,100 adults, taken earlier this year, showed that people overwhelmingly react to work and family stress by engaging in distinctly bad behaviors – such as comfort eating, making poor diet choices, smoking and inactivity – and are more likely to report hypertension, anxiety, depression or obesity.
Women, the survey indicated, describe feelings of nervousness, wanting to cry or lacking energy; men were more likely to experience sleeplessness or increased expressions of irritability and anger. About 12 percent more women than men said they coped with stress by eating – a practice that actually birthed fatigue, insomnia, and guilt, adding to their perceived stress.
Stress levels were highest for those who said they were responsible for making the primary health care decisions for their families. Other factors contributing to stress for both women and men included concerns about money, work, or the state of today’s world. “Everybody experiences stress,” said Russ Newman, PhD, JD, executive director of the Practice Directorate.
“The key is how effectively people deal with and manage stress.” Jesus Christ actually affirmed that your life would be burdened by stress; not exactly an encouraging word. But His statement was also punctuated with a promise of hope in John 16:33. “But take heart! I have overcome the world.” As a Christian, you have the incredible resource of God’s presence and power to help you cope with stress. Tapping into that resource, though, requires some work on your part. But listen – I guarantee that if you put in the effort on the front-end to consistently access Him, the personal payoff on the back-end will be a “de-stressed,” not distressed, existence. You’ll be happier, healthier, and your intimacy with God will grow.
Here are four practical, Biblical responses to the stress in your life:
1. Live intentionally: You choose, in advance, how you will live. Therefore, strive to look over the hill and put what you’re dealing with into a bigger perspective. Here’s a reminder how to do that:
• Embrace your purpose! Do you see a need today that motivates you to action – that gives you a purpose? The Bible not only spells out your purpose for any given situation you’re facing; it also gives you the direction you need to fulfill that purpose.
• Create a picture of the future! Take the pieces of your life puzzle – your skills, talents and giftedness – and begin putting them together to create a future vision you can really see.
• Wrestle with your passions! Passion is the outcome of knowing your purpose and having your picture; now you have to set aside your fears or insecurities to commit to making the picture of what God has given you a reality.
• Detail your plans! Go about this process step-by-step, looking realistically at the obstacles and coming up with “work-arounds” in order to make your plan doable.
• Commit to perseverance! There will be those who’ll say you’ll never make it. Criticism is inevitable, but don’t be swayed. The Intentional Life is something you commit to achieving. You will make it – you’re on your way to something better, and God is with you.
2. Pray about all things: In Philippians 4:6, Paul directs you not to be “anxious” – a word literally interpreted in the Greek as “to be troubled with cares.” A wonderful de-stressing benefit of prayer is that it allows you to share the load with the Lord. In order to pray to God, you must exercise faith, and when you pray in faith, you give your burdens to the Lord. As a result, you’ll find yourself feeling less anxious because you are better able to give your pressures to God and trust Him for the outcome. An active prayer life also develops a sense of discipline that carries over to other areas, helping you reject unhealthy coping mechanisms.
3. Don’t allow your emotions to run your life : Oftentimes you simply “think your way” into problems by unnecessarily worrying about them, letting your emotions dictate your attitude. Uncontrolled emotions make it easy to exaggerate the true impact of the stressors in your life, causing them to appear far bigger than they really are, resulting in poor decision-making. You will regulate your emotions when you first “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
4. Don’t overreact, but think things through: Continuing that idea from 2 Corinthians, you can’t passively take something captive. It’s a forceful act of your will, requiring patience. Yet how many times have you allowed the first thought that enters your mind to take you in the wrong direction? When you overreact, you can be either overly pessimistic or far too optimistic, leaving you unbalanced. Throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon talks of the virtue of thoroughly applying his mind to consider his thoughts (Ecclesiastes 7:25 and 8:16 are just two examples). He learned the wisdom of taking his time and thinking twice.
Yes, you’ll be stressed out at times. Stress will always be something you have to deal with – but it doesn’t have to dictate your life. Take control of how you cope with stress, and let the trial by fire refine you into all you can be for Jesus Christ.
According to anxietycentre.com, 40 million people in the U.S. this year will experience impairment because of an anxiety condition. Moreover, those who experience anxiety and stress have a very high propensity for drug use and addictions.
With the right help and healing, anxietycentre.com states those who have experienced an anxiety condition can:
• Regain control of their health and life
• Live a balanced, happy and fulfilling life
• Have happier and more fulfilling relationships
• Become the individual they always thought they could be
• Reconnect with life in a more rewarding and satisfying way
• Live an unrestricted lifestyle, ready to tackle any challenge
• Live a more accepting life, appreciating uniqueness and imperfection
• Experience a more stable work environment
• Have freedom from medication and/or drug use
• Reconnect with their faith and feel God’s presence
• Have a closer relationship with God.