THE ART OF MANAGING STRESS TO ENJOY LIFE

                                                 - MILAN K SINHA

The world is changing fast - socially, economically, technologically, politically and culturally, and so is our country. The pace of this change has been faster in corporate world with the advent of the famous concept of LPG -Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization.

It is simply interesting to find many Indians, even those who don't understand fully the meaning of GDP talk in terms of this term. Ironically, however, very few of us talk loudly in public about improvement in quality of human life with GDP growth.

Young professionals seeking remedy for stress malady talk straight against creating a compelling work environment purposefully for achieving, at times even seemingly unachievable, business targets more by crook than by hook. Unfortunately, this is becoming the order of the day in many companies, more noticeably in Indian IT as well as Financial Sectors.

As a corollary, the natural character of our daily routine undergoes changes for the worse, more particularly for our urban working population. The reasons may be many and may also seem to be genuine and compelling, but in the bargain we are confronted with stress, stress and more stress.

Obviously, changing the natural course of life at will or worse under compulsion, doctors opine, creates a highly stressful situation which affects not only our health but also the health of our family at large since it has multidimensional impact on our life. Believe it or not, it is a very big and serious issue for all progressive HR managers and wellness consultant across the world.

Yes, the stress level has been going up, everyone agrees, if not talk openly. But, except visiting a doctor and taking sleeping pills, is there any easy and doable solution to begin with? Can effecting a change in our lifestyle, behavior pattern and thought process help in this regard? Definitely, there are a few we can discuss here.

The first thing we should do is to avoid imitating others blindly. Making our life a copy-paste version will not lead us to a happy and contented life. On the contrary, we should sincerely try to know ourselves. And, in turn, find ourselves and be ourselves always endeavoring for further improvement in one’s personality by positive thoughts, actions and engagements.

Instead of being submissive or aggressive in one’s behavior, it is desirable to be assertive since assertive behavior encompasses the qualities of being confident, mature, frank, balanced, objective, dynamic, decisive, competent, humorous, relaxed and logical. The assertive attitude must be backed by an honest, transparent, and committed approach.

The human tendency, you will agree, has been to think and worry about what we haven’t rather than think what we have, even though; generally most of the things in our lives are right. In fact, we have been in the habit of counting our curses and not the blessings. Undoubtedly, this is the greatest tragedy and it has probably caused more misery than all the wars and diseases in the history. Adopting and practicing ‘Think and Thank’ philosophy in our day to day life helps mitigate avoidable stress significantly.

As always, I am keen to know what you think on this subject. Hence, request you to post Comments to share your views and experiences.

                Will meet again with Open Mind. All the Best.
# Published in Patna Daily.com 

# Do visit my site, milanksinha.com