Stress can affect every aspect of our lives and “force” us to often engage in unhealthy behaviors. Relationships are definitely an area that creates a lot of stress, as it often triggers insecurity and uncertainty. We really want to hang out or have a romantic relationship with someone who makes us forget to put limits on ourselves and others so we lose control and have a lot of stress. Healthy coping strategies can help us avoid this and deal with periods of high stress in better ways.
How can we do that?
• With the support of our friends and family.
When we are in a relationship that we desire a lot, many times our expectations are too high and we lose sight of reality, having excessive demands from both ourselves and others. Friends and family can be the ones who ground us and land us. Something that can greatly help in managing our stress.
• With relaxation.
It is very important to learn to relax… How? With breathing techniques.
Strange as it may sound, when we are in a stressful situation, we forget to breathe properly. That is, our breath becomes shallow, fast and we feel “out of breath”. This results in increased stress. So, if we learn to control our breathing, we will learn to control our stress and be relieved. Important, don’t you think?
• Writing.
Recording our thoughts and emotions can help us deal with stress and at the same time improve our mental health, because we learn to recognize our emotions and challenge them through recording them. Many times, what we consider anger can be frustration… or what we consider love can be just excitement. By recognizing emotions and making cognitive frameworks, we control stress and at the same time reduce our overrated emotions.
• Distraction.
When we are constantly attached to our relationship, then our mind is occupied only with it. It goes without saying that stress will be at high levels and we will feel discomfort. It is good to find other activities that we enjoy, such as walking, swimming, exercising, so that we do not stay attached and create obsessive ideas. Thus, our stress can be reduced, which makes it easier to control.
Relationships, friendly or romantic, are welcome, if we know how to manage them and do not turn them into the only purpose of our existence. After all, we create relationships to have a good time and not to suffer!
