There are many different events or triggers that can cause stress during our daily lives.

Most of the time we manage perfectly well, but sometimes stress can become toxic.

What Causes me Stress?

Uncertain times (like the Coronavirus outbreak)
Pressure
Life changes
Worry
Not being in control of a situation or its outcome
Overwhelming responsibilities
Not having any change or excitement

You might be stressed by one thing, but it's just as likely that you could suffer from a build-up of a number of different factors that impact you all together over a period of time. That could make it difficult to work out what it is that’s really affecting you.

But what affects you won’t be the same as someone else. You will react in unique and different ways to different events and circumstances.The why is important, and that’s where you can start to understand yourself and build strategies to deal with stress. Here are some examples of the “why”.

How you understand a situation.

This could be affected by your self-esteem, experiences, or how your thought processes work-are you a glass half full or glass half empty person.

Your experience at dealing with particular pressures
Emotional Resilience
Other pressures
How well supported you are

People react to being under stress in different ways, and what affects one person won’t affect another at all. You might be a confident performer and enjoy being in front of a crowd, but the idea off this could terrify other people. Similarly, some people find it easy to be alone while others find it difficult. Particularly important at the moment when we are being asked to isolate. Finding strategies to get through the next few weeks and months is going to be crucial to our mental health as well as physical.

No health without mental health: why this matters now more than everhttps://t.co/hazQg48c3T @PHE_uk #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek

— RSPH (@R_S_P_H) May 21, 2020

No health without mental health

There are a lot of reasons why you might become stressed.

Any aspect of your life could impact you, and most of the time people deal with the ups and downs well. But there are a number of life events and challenges that could affect you;

You

Bereavement and loss
Chronic health problems
Pregnancy and parenthood
Organising complicated activities
Even everyday tasks

Family and Friends

Marriage
Divorce
Relationships

Work and Education

Unemployment
Redundancy
Exams
New employment

Housing

Moving home or buying your first home
Homelessness
Poor housing
Neighbours

Money

Poverty
Debt
Money worries

We associate stress with high pressure, difficult, sad, or tragic events.

But happy events can also be stressful. Getting married is one example. The end result is happy, but may people find the lead up- the arrangements, dealing with family members and friends, venues and all of the other things required to make the day perfect can cause stress to many people. And dealing with family finances is another example. Worrying about making ends meet, providing for your family and securing your financial future are all stressors that can easily get on top of you if they aren’t kept under control.

Similarly with moving house. Not being certain that the vendor won’t pull out at the last minute, the cost and organisation with conveyancers, banks and all of the other things that need to happen can be difficult, challenging and ultimately very stressful.

How we deal with the stressors in our life and what strategies we put in place to deal with them is what makes the difference between manageable stress and toxic stress- where our mind and body instigates its fight, fright or freeze mode. And we’ll be looking at that in our next blog.