Stress is problematic for us all. Left unchecked, stress can lead to increased anxiety and low mood. However, when you have existing mental health challenges, being mindful of stress becomes even more critical. In my mental health journey, I have learned that I must deal with stress quickly, to avoid any negative impact on my wellbeing. To do this, I created the acronym R.E.D.U.C.E to remind myself what I need to do to take care of myself as soon as I notice I am feeling stressed.
Having Mental Health Challenges Can Feel Like Owning a Set Of Badly Calibrated Scales
I often describe my mental health as a set of slightly off-balance scales. My tendency towards depression, my fluctuating anxiety and my addiction history, mean that I own a set of scales which are incorrectly calibrated. It’s almost impossible to get them to level out dead-centre. However, I have learned to be okay with this and to find ways to get them to balance and stay stable in their offset state.
Feeling Stressed Can Make Existing Mental Health Challenges Worse
I can maintain this off-set balance and live happily, as long as my life remains fairly consistent and stress-free. However, life is life, unexpected or upsetting events will of course occur. Then, because I am already slightly off-set, I’m affected far more by an unexpected or difficult event, than people whose scales are more accurately calibrated.
In the past, when I noticed I was feeling stressed, I would also feel ashamed and weak. I was embarrassed by how I could be so easily affected by events out of my control. This shame would cause me to be too hard on myself and push myself forward in an attempt to, “cope like everyone else”. In turn, my mental and physical health would suffer and when it did, I put myself at risk of a crisis or relapse.
Feeling Stressed Happens To Everyone
Over time, I learned that there was no shame to be had because feeling stressed happens to us all. Managing mental health challenges every day is hard work. It is no wonder then, that I found myself negatively affected by additional new stress on top of this. With this new realisation, came a new way of managing stress when I felt it rise.
Stress is often unavoidable, whether you have pre-existing mental health challenges or not. With careful management, however, it need not compromise our entire well being and we can return to own definition of balance in good time.
Using The R.E.D.U.C.E Acronym When You Are Feeling Stressed
In learning how to respond when I start feeling stressed, I have developed an acronym, to help remind me what to do. As soon as an unexpected event or crisis happens, I implement this quickly, to avoid my stress levels for escalating. Here is how I use the REDUCE acronym.
R
Remind yourself that it is OK to feel whatever you are feeling without any shame or judgement. This is vitally important, there are no ‘shoulds’ when it comes to emotions. We feel however we feel and that is perfectly OK. Being hard on yourself for how you feel will only make things worse.
E
Enforce your personal boundaries. If other people are asking things of you that you cannot manage right now, tell them. Calmly and clearly state your needs and your limitations. This applies to your own expectations of yourself too, don’t force ourself to do things you are currently unable to.
D
Drop anything from your life that is not important right now. When we are feeling stressed, everything can feel overwhelming. Take some time to write everything down that you need to do. By writing a list, it can help us to feel more in control and organise ourselves better. Most importantly, by using this list we can see the things which can be put off until a later day, thus lessening our stress load. Strip everything back to basics and simplify your life as much as you can.
U
Use your coping strategies and tools to administer some self-care. This might mean taking some rest, doing some exercise, or using some distraction techniques.
C
Contact your support person. This can be your partner, a friend, or a family member. It might also be your counsellor or other support network or group. Support people are those people in our lives that are reliably there for us when times are tough. They might offer support or advice or just sit with you whilst you off-load. Remember, there is never any shame in asking for help.
E
Evaluate your well-being on a daily basis, it may take a while to re-balance after a spike in stress. Take your time and don’t rush back to a busy life, makes sure you are back to being as balanced as you can be first. Remind yourself that you are doing the best you can and that your best is good enough.
What methods do you use to reduce your stress? Id love to know if you found these useful or if you have any tips of your own to add. Scroll down to pop a message in the comments to let me know!
Hello! My name is Finn and I have a passion for creating honest content, that inspires personal growth and promotes well-being.
Buy my Phalloplasty memoir here.
If you enjoy my content and want to say thanks, become a Friend of Finn and get bonus perks!
[…] stress management tools also helps to reduce the stress when I’m in the middle of feeling overwhelmed. My […]
This is really great Finn! I have never heard of this acronym before, but it is super useful. I especially like the part about dropping anything from your life that is an immediately useful and reinforcing your boundaries with others. Such great tips I could do this more as well. Thank you so much for introducing me to this!
Thank you so much! Yes, this acronym is my own creation! I am so glad you found it useful!
[…] deadlines so that they don’t creep up on you, will help you to look after your mental health and avoid undue stress. The main way I do this, is by using two types of schedule, an overview wall planner, and a weekly […]
[…] so that they don’t creep up on you, will help you to look after your mental health and avoid undue stress. The main way I do this, is by using two types of schedule, an overview wall planner, and a weekly […]
… [Trackback]
[…] Find More Informations here: finlaygames.com/feeling-stressed-reduce-mange-mental-health/ […]
I love this technique you have set for yourself! As someone who gets stressed very often and for all kinds of reasons, I always look for ways to get myself out of that feeling because it can greatly affect the entire day and even how I interact with other people. Thank you for sharing this!
Thank you for such a kind comment and for reading! I agree, stress is such a problem and we need to catch it quick!
I’ve never heard of using Reduce before, I suffer with really bad anxiety at times so anything that can help me stop and re-asses the situation. I do always use self care thought, that always helps.
Jordanne || thelifeofaglasgowgirl.co.uk
Thats because I just created it! I hope you find it helpful, self care is vital. Much strength to you!
This is a great tool. I will need to actually remember this when things start to get a bit hard! Thank you for sharing Finn.
Thank you!
This is very really unique helpful information. keep it up. Thank you so much!
Thanks so much!
[…] when you have mental health challenges and are in recovery. I have to be so very careful to stay balanced. A lot has happened for me recently and l’m back on a fairly even keel and want to stay that […]