M PIRE ON HEALTH
Eliminating Stress (At The
Core)
Written by Ayana Webb
Stress has many layers. Contrary to popular belief, there’s always a way to eliminate
it. And the even more ironic part is, you are 100% in control of either the situation that
is giving you stress, or the feeling itself. You see a lot of articles that talk about how to
“reduce” stress, which go into detail about meditating, exercising, eating the right
foods (which you should do anyway whether you’re stressed or not), but it’s the same
as taking medications; it’s treating the problem, but not curing it. My goal is to help
you narrow down exactly what might be stressing you out and actually addressing
the problem. Since I can’t really cater to each individual reader’s problem, the best
I can do is give examples of what I’m talking about, then you can apply it to your
situation in the way it fits best.
Find Out the Core of Your Stress: The first step, obviously, is find out what exactly is
causing you stress. This may be difficult at times, because there can be layers to it,
but take a second to stream through your mind and scan your thoughts. Whatever
thought appears that makes your stomach turn, that’s the core of your stress.
Explore Options to Change The Circumstance: This is another difficult step, because
sometimes it requires making sacrifices and stepping out of your comfort zone, but
the idea is seeing the big picture. As a general statement, if something is bothering
you, fix it. Sometimes it’s as simple as that. Let’s look at some scenarios here as examples:
-I’m in a lot of debt/I don’t make enough money: In most cases, this one is a
rather easy one to solve, actually. It just takes a little discipline. Again, sacrifices will need to be made, but the reward of peace of mind will be well
worth it. My mother always told me that my expenses should be no higher
than one week’s worth of pay, but hey, things happen, and we have a
lot of responsibilities. The first step to this is to examine your cash flow: How
much money you’re making verses how much money is being spent on bills,
groceries, etc. The next step is to figure out where you can cut down on
37
expenses. (Cont’d)