In my blog on the key elements of a healthy lifestyle, I included proper stress management on the list. If you want to stay healthy, you must know how to properly handle and manage stress. Medical studies show that there is a huge impact of stress on the overall health of an individual. It could trigger not only emotional but also physical and emotional instability.
An extreme amount of stress can have serious effects on the immune, cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and central nervous systems.
Inevitably, we face a lot of circumstances every day that is rather stressful. Commuting to work is one thing but heavy traffic is another thing.
My Passion and Interest
Even the things we love to do and are passionate about could be a source of stress. It’s been almost two months since I signed up with Wealthy Affiliate. It was all fun and excitement for the first 2-3 weeks until it was time to put to work the all things that I’ve learned so far from the courses and boot camp.
First of all, it felt really great building up my own website, customizing it according to my preference, and then adding the necessary frameworks to it. This is all new to me so to finally be able to have my own website for my blogs and articles is indeed a great blessing. 
However, I found out that the most challenging part is writing content. That’s because we’re not just talking here of any content but relevant content.
And this is something that I had to work really hard for during the first 6 weeks or so. Of course, I can always outsource it but I wanted to challenge myself and give it a try before deciding if I can really do this or not.
So I found myself stressing out a lot. I’ve been pushing myself too hard and I have to sacrifice a lot of my spare time to work on my website. Although I was working a full-time job, I still have a lot of time to do my household chores, watch my TV series, and so on.
Lately, I’ve been spending more and more time writing content because I have two websites on different niches. It is really stressful and it’s starting to take a huge toll on me.
My Job
I’ve been working full time for 20 years now and don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. Having a job is a blessing and I am truly grateful to God because not only are my needs sustained but I can help out with my family’s needs as well. The main reason I took up this job in the first place was that I love it and I enjoy it.
That was 10 years ago and now looking back, I have no regrets whatsoever. But this year is a different story because I am now beginning to hate my job. I’m now beginning to hate the job that I used to love and enjoy.
What changed? The normal 8-hour duty has become 12 hours, which is actually nothing new because I’m kind’ a used to this already. I’m usually doing 12-hour shifts on Fridays (Friday here in the Middle East is the equivalent of Sunday to most countries) and twice or at most three times a week when somebody in my department is on leave or vacation.
And not to mention the Ramadan month in wherein all Muslims work only 6 hours a day, with the remaining 2 hours covered by non-Muslim co-workers. The problem is that this set up has become almost regular that I feel like I’m spending more time working for other people than doing the things that I enjoy.
Do you know how that feels like? Terrible!
The Adverse Effects of Stress
I’m pretty sure many of you can relate to what I’m going through and although the cause of your stress could be different from mine we can all agree that it’s not something we wish to take on forever.
Since the day my site was up and running and the 12-hour shift 3-4 times a week on my job, I haven’t been eating and sleeping well enough. I have lost my appetite and as a result, I did not only lose weight but I also lost the energy and stamina to do my daily routine.
I also noticed that I’ve become so moody and irritable and I don’t like it. I don’t like the person I see in the mirror every waking hour. I have become too stressed out and busy that I do not have time to relax and unwind. The things that I used to enjoy like my job have become burdensome. And that’s not healthy at all. What’s the point writing about ways to stay healthy when the writer is not taking her own advice seriously.
The Solution
Finding positive and healthy ways to manage stress could definitely reduce the negative consequences it has on our health. Today I made a decision to take things slow and find time to relax and enjoy life. My biggest worry right now is that if I keep things the way they are right now I might eventually lose myself along the way or worse I could get really sick. Stress is a silent killer and nobody wants anything to do with it.
So how do we do it?
1. First of all, you must figure out the cause of stress in your life. If you are able to identify what they are then you should be able to eliminate or at least reduce them.
2. Manage your time better. Having a balanced schedule is a good way to eliminate stress so try to find a balance between work, family, social activities, and involvements and daily activities.
3. Make time for fun and relaxation activities that you enjoy.
4. Maintain a healthy lifestyle by eating a well-balanced diet, exercise, and make sure you get enough sleep.
5. But most of all, know that there’s a God who takes care of everything. Always make time for Him, give Him all your troubles and care because He cares for you.
HI there,
I am a firm believer in the body-mind connection, meaning that if your mind is riddled with stress then it leaves the body more prone to sickness and disease. Therefore, it’s important to ensure that we take time out of our day everyday to destress. I like how you pointed out that even things we enjoy doing can create stress because I think most people (including me) automatically think about work when we hear the word ‘stress’, when really our hobbies can contribute to it as well.
Hey Krystal,
De-stressing is something we all should learn to do in order to become more effective and productive. No matter how hectic our schedule is and the loads of work we need to finish, we must take some time to unwind and recharge. Stress is almost always work-related, however, it can also be caused by other factors such as the things we love to do and enjoy.
First off, I just want to say that I admire your perseverance through the stressful times in life and I wish you most peace, prosperity, and stress-free future! I am in your shoes, too, where I am trying hard to make the shift to creating my own hours and have financial freedom through WA. I’ve been working so hard for so many years in a broken system where a Master’s degree doesn’t hold as much weight in terms of how much money you can make! It’s definitely been stressful trying to make ends and pay the bills while trying to maintain a balanced life. I can relate– life can bring lots of stressful circumstances because our world is not so simple anymore. This has affected my well-being, moods, and overall health for sure. I’ve been coping through yoga, meditation, and journal-writing. Thank you for sharing your insight and I wish you the most success in your journey!
Hi Ciara, thank you for your encouraging comment. You’re right, we all go through stressful times but we have to be able cope and manage it the right way. I also thought a degree would be enough to make a decent living but there will be times when we feel like what we’re doing is never enough.
I wish us both success through WA.
This is a very necessary post for many different reasons, we all can relate to being stressed from a lot of situations but we really don’t consider the effects that being stressed causes. I seem to be stressed all the time, I don’t get enough sleep or eat a balanced diet so I really glad to have this reminder of how bad stress can be on our body and in our social life.
Hi Aldane, thank you for finding my post necessary. Yes, we all get stressed out for several reasons and it affects our overall health. Sometimes our stress comes from things that are not really important and do not impact our lives as much as other things. However, we can always choose to properly manage it. I believe that finding a balance between our activities is the key to being stress-free. I hope you’ll be able to manage your stress more effectively as I am doing today.
Hey there! I’m really stressed out on my job. I’m thinking of finding a new job online where I don’t have a boss. I’m stress to my working environment and to my boss and I’m thing to cut that stress. I read your article and I think that wealthy affiliate is a great online job. Do you think that joining wealthy affiliate will reduce my stress? Is it worth the money I saved and the time that I’m going to spend time with?
Hi John, Wealthy Affiliate is a great platform for aspiring online entrepreneurs as it teaches almost everything you need to know from starting out and succeeding in your business. Does it guarantee that you’ll be stress-free? It will still depend on you. In my case, I found myself stressing out because I was trying to fit everything into my hectic schedule. I am always anxious thinking of the next blog that I’m going to publish. I forgot that I also need to do the other things that I love; that I also need some time off. My point here is that, we need a balance between our activities. We need to always find time to relax, be with the people we liove and spend time with God.
It’s the same thing with our full time job. We’re stressed out because we can’t find a balance between our responsibilities at work and the things we like to do. Work can be fun sometimes, it just depends on how we look at it. Can you go full time with your online business? Most definitely! But we have to be reminded that it’s not magic, it’s not get-rich scheme. We need to put in the work, time and some cash. Every business needs all three anyway.
So if you’re thinking of starting an online business, I recommend you start with Wealthy Affiliate, it’s a great online training platform.