Overcoming Stress: Episode 1

Sales Man Up

Overcoming Stress: Episode 1

If you want to see what your thoughts were like yesterday, look at your body today. If you want to see what your body will look like tomorrow , look at your thoughts today.  - Old Indian saying

Hans Selye once wrote,  “ It’s not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it. “ Who doesn’t experience some level of stress ? The breakneck pace of our lives filled with business meetings, presentations, appointments, traffic, family commitments, scheduling conflicts and don't forget , expense reports ; can be mind-boggling if you try to take it all in at once. For the average person, and especially today’s modern business professional, it is easy to feel overwhelmed .

In a 2017 article published on Web MD, the following statistics were listed concerning stress:

• Forty-three percent of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress.
• Seventy-five percent to 90% of all doctor’s office visits are for stress-related ailments or complaints.
• Stress can play a part in problems such as headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma, arthritis, depression and anxiety.

In a connected article, Web MD listed four ways to fight back against stress:

1. Breathe deeply
2. Focus on the moment
3. Reframe the moment
4. Keep your problem in perspective - be grateful

In the following series of articles dealing with stress, I’d like to briefly touch on each of these areas over the period of the next few weeks. Why am I , as a professional salesperson, spending time discussing stress and exploring how we can reduce it ? Shouldn’t I just be focusing on the numbers and bringing in more sales ? Hmmm, it’s hard to sell when you’re dead. Like many of you who are reading this blog, I have dealt with this malady in my own life and health,  and I am learning how to manage it day by day. Additionally, over the past year that I have been blogging at Sales Man Up, the highest number of reads in my history was related to dealing with anxiety and stress. I believe this is a pressure point for many people, no matter what your station is in life, myself included. Stress is an unwanted guest in our house, and it simply will not leave on its own. Like Mark Twain wrote concerning bad habits, “ Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs one step at a time. “ The scientific facts stand screaming in front of our face like a Drill Instructor yelling at his recruits. Stress is killing us ( or at least our reaction to it is…), and it is up to each one of us to choose to do something about it . My hope is that this blog can help you find some tools to do so over the month of September. To your health !

Letting go helps us to to live in a more peaceful state of mind and helps restore our balance. It allows others to be responsible for themselves and for us to take our hands off situations that do not belong to us. This frees us from unnecessary stress. - Melody Beattie