Corporate E-Learning

Welcome to the Stress Management workshop. Positive and negative stress is a constant influence on all of our lives. The trick is to maximize the positive stress and to minimize the negative stress. This workshop will give participants a three-option method for addressing any stressful situation, as well as a toolbox of personal skills, including using routines, relaxation techniques, and a stress log system.

To begin, let’s look at what stress is. We’ll also explore how stress can be positive and negative, and we’ll look at the Triple A approach that will form the basis of this workshop.

To begin, let’s explore the foundation of a positive, low-stress lifestyle. This foundation is made up of three building blocks: diet, sleep, and exercise. No stress reduction program will be successful in the long term unless you have this solid foundation.

Now that we have the basic building blocks of a stress-reduced lifestyle, let’s talk about how we deal with stress. We’ve heard the saying, “A leopard can’t change its spots,” but we’d like to disagree. When dealing with stress, there are often many ways in which you can change your approach or the situation to make it less stressful.

In the previous module, we talked about taking power over the situation and changing it to make it less stressful. In this module, we will explore another way to take power over stressful situations: by avoiding them entirely.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Our final A will help us cope with those things that cannot be changed.

Routines allow us to systematize the unchanging elements of our life, so that you can spend your energy on more worthwhile projects. By planning meals in advance, having a system for chores, and using to-do lists, you can run a more efficient environment and have fewer things to worry about.

So far, we have talked about how to create a stress-reducing lifestyle, and how to reduce the impact of stressful situations. Despite all these preventative steps, stress will still happen. When it does, it’s important to have some tools to keep cool.

Stress can cause many physical side effects, including: • Muscle tension • Headaches • High blood pressure • Insomnia • Depression • Obesity • Digestive problems • Increased susceptibility to illness • Increased risk of heart attack and stroke These effects increase the longer you are stressed, and the higher your stress level. Having some ways to reduce the effects of stress on our bodies and mind is important.

The tools that we have discussed so far will help you manage and reduce stress in your everyday life. However, as you encounter stressful events, your toolbox will have to grow, too. This module will explore how to prepare for major stressful events, and what to do when those events happen.

We have discussed many tools in this workshop, and we hope that our ideas have sparked some thoughts on how you can manage and reduce stress. However, it’s hard to know how to solve a problem if you don’t know what the problem really is! This module will explore how to use a stress log system to identify, reduce, and manage stressors.

Although this workshop is coming to a close, we hope that your journey to improve your stress management skills is just beginning. Please take a moment to review and update your action plan. This will be a key tool to guide your progress in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. We wish you the best of luck on the rest of your travels!