Stress That You Can Control

David Ropeik, director of risk communication at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis says “Just the stress of fear is dangerous.”

Ropeik’s rule for taming high anxiety:  Be practical, Face your fears, calmly assess the risk, then deal with the ones you can control.  Take a deep breath and go on with your life.

Odd as it is, the risks that you can control are often the ones that stress you out the most. Take the time to understand why those risks make us fearful.  If we understand the fear we will be more able to control our reaction to it and in turn control the stress that it causes us.

When you think of risk, you usually think:  What are my chances of ___?   It’s healthy to rate your risks from small to big.  This will give you a general perspective of just how high your risk is and so just how much stress is justified.

We may be fretting about small risks with remote chances of even happening.  We need to take control of our thoughts and the fears that cause us stress.

One way to beat your fears and control your stress is to keep a gratitude journal, listing at least five things that you are grateful for every day.  It’s not easy being grateful all the time. But it’s when you feel least thankful that you are more open to fear and the stress that it causes.