What to Do About People Causing Your Stress

When you started down your path to removing stress from your life, you probably thought the stress was coming from work or something in your environment. You may have thought about bills or other aspects that may be causing your stress, but you may not have expected it to be specific people. The question comes in when you start journaling, or dealing with your stress in some other way, and you start noticing the pattern of certain people being the stress in your life. Here is what to do when the stress is a person or group of people.

Tackle the Stress Directly

You don't want to remove someone from your life just because they are causing stress, unless they are the root of the problem. So, the first step is to tackle the stress directly. Figure out if the person is the one causing the stress or if it is something else. For example, you may feel that it is a person at work causing you stress. After you look into the matter, you may find that it is a work related issue and not the person. You may find the person in question is under as much stress and just passing the stress down the line. You can try to figure out the root issue and work together to fix it so the stress can go down for both of you.

Slowly Remove Yourself

One of the next steps to take is to gently remove yourself from the stress and the person. This is usually a step you take when you don't feel that the stress will be ongoing and you still want the person in your life. A prime example of what may lead to this step is having a friend that is going through a drama filled issue and the drama and anger associated with it is causing stress for you either directly or indirectly. You may want to slowly start removing yourself or making yourself unavailable for a bit to keep away from the situation. After the drama blows over you can re-approach the person and maybe discuss why you had to back off.

Cut Off Contact

When you have tried finding the root of the problem, talking to the person, and removing yourself from the drama you may find that will work. There are some cases that it just simply doesn't work because the person is the stress or they are always in dramatic situations. When this starts to take a toll in your life, and you can't break free of it, you may have to cut off contact and break free of the person instead. This is a last ditch option, but in some cases you may have to. Try talking with the person and explaining the issue. Try to tell them where you stand and how their stress is affecting you. If there is no resolution, then make the choice that is best for your health.

This is the toughest and most difficult aspect of removing stress from your life. It is one thing to remove other aspects of your life that are causing stress. It is a different one to remove people that may have been in your life for years or play a specific role in your life. Keep in mind that your life and your health is important and sometimes removing people is better than dealing with the health issues they may cause in your life.

If you’re finding yourself stressed, overwhelmed, or anxious call or email me for a free, no obligation, consultation. Remember, you deserve to have the life you want! heather@setsailtherapy.com 317-648-9295.

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