Stress Management For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 16

Maintaining a Stress-Resilient Lifestyle

In This Chapter

Building in stress management

Insulating yourself from stress

Getting involved

Learning to have fun

Managing your stress is a little like managing your weight. In the beginning, you’re enthusiastic and, with much gusto and determination, you start dropping those pounds. Weeks (or maybe only days) later, your enthusiasm begins to wane. You’re even gaining back any weight you may have lost.

Your attempts at stress reduction can easily fall victim to the same fate. Staying motivated and finding the time to practice your stress-management skills is not that easy. You may also find that, even though you now have the right tools, you rarely use them. This common situation is much like belonging to a health club and never going. On most days, especially your busier ones, time flies by, and you don’t consider doing anything that even slightly resembles stress management.

This chapter shows you how to avoid many of the pitfalls that often derail your attempts to manage your stress over the long haul. But there’s more: Effective ...