Stress

• By vishwa on Health

• March 15, 2016

I am a fitness trainer.  I am also a coach to few of my gym clients.  The role of a coach is much deeper than a trainer.  However, I rarely speak about stress management, as I believe I don’t have the expertise to speak about it.  Moreover, stress management I believe is a multifaceted subject, and to pigeonhole it isn’t appropriate.  Well, there are several forums, workshops and seminars that are conducted which talk about stress management, However, I feel that they are all unimportant.

Why?

In the book titled Stress Craft written by Frank forencich the author opinionates lucidly on stress.  He says “Even when we do attempt to address stress in our schools or the workplace, such efforts tend to be superficial at best.  In conventional stress management books and seminars, stress is treated like simple, one-dimensional problem.  The focus is almost always adversarial; stress is something outside of us, something external that needs to be “managed.”  The sole objective is to eliminate stress so that we can get on with our real work and lives.”

He however adds, “Stress is a paradoxical creature with a dual nature.  On the one hand, it can degrade our bodies and our lives.  It can bring disease to our brains, our families, our communities, and our culture.  On the other hand, stress has the potential to improve our personal and professional performance, enriching our lives with health, joy and exuberance.”

I believe when frank says that stress has the potential to improve our performance,  I disagree, as it can occur in the short term.  But in the long haul it havocs our health and well-being, for we cannot continue to perform better under stress, as sooner or later stress takes over.

However, I second the views of Frank when he says that stress is indeed treated as a one-dimensional problem.  A holistic approach is the need of the hour, so going to the root cause is essential than to address it casually.