Elizabeth Anne Scott - 8 keys to stress management : [simple and effective strategies to transform your experience of stress]

8 Keys to Mental Health Series

Babette Rothschild, Series Editor

The 8 Keys series of books provides consumers with brief, inexpensive, and high-quality self-help books on a variety of topics in mental health. Each volume is written by an expert in the field, someone who is capable of presenting evidence-based information in a concise and clear way. These books stand out by offering consumers cutting-edge, relevant theory in easily digestible portions, written in an accessible style. The tone is respectful of the reader and the messages are immediately applicable. Filled with exercises and practical strategies, these books empower readers to help themselves.

8 KEYS TO STRESS MANAGEMENT

SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES TO
TRANSFORM YOUR EXPERIENCE OF STRESS

ELIZABETH ANNE SCOTT

FOREWORD BY BABETTE ROTHSCHILD

This book is dedicated to my wonderful husband, Jamey, and my beloved sons, Jake and Cameron James. They keep my life exciting, meaningful, and filled with love.

And to my grandparents, James and Phyllis Kudrna, and Leo and Charlene Schuetz. They have been a source of inspiration to me and have shown by example how to manage stress and live a long, happy, and healthy life.

Finally, this book is dedicated to everyone who encounters stress and would like to manage it in the healthiest way possible. We may all experience stress in unique ways, but I believe we all share the desire to be our best, for the benefit of our loved ones, for ourselves, and for the world around us.

Contents

Babette Rothschild, Series Editor

H ans Selye first studied, identified, and named the condition we call stress in the 1950s, publishing his findings in his classic book, The Stress of Life . In his quest to understand stress, he observed problematic changes in body systems and organs as a result of persistently high levels of adrenaline and other hormones, now recognized as stress hormones.

Stress is commonly associated with disagreeable states and experiences, but objectively is neither positive nor negative. In fact, stress is simply a response to physical and emotional demands, what Selye called stressors . It is important to note that stress is not always bad or even undesirable. You might be surprised to learn that many things you experience as pleasant are actually the results of stress, such as the pleasure of sexual climax; the invigoration of a challenging bike ride; the love, warmth, and high of a wedding day; and the nourishment and satisfaction many experience while working in their gardens. Stress can also be a lifesaver, as when a person encounters a life-threatening situation and is able to achieve the superhuman speed or strength necessary to flee from or fight off the danger. Nevertheless, when we talk about stress we are usually referring to unpleasant stress, set in motion by adverse events or circumstances or exacerbated through our perceptions and thoughts.

Every being experiences stress more and less on a daily basis. It is inevitable, not something we can avoid, so it might be a good idea to learn how to better handle it. Recently I suggested to my colleague, Dr. Christiane Wolf, a certified teacher and trainer in Jon Kabat-Zinns program of mindfulness-based stress reduction, that it would be more accurate to call that program mindfulness-based stress management . Bottom line: Because we cannot evade stress, just about everyone (myself included) could learn to better manage it and to reduce the unfavorable impact it can have on the body and mind.

When first conceiving of the 8 Keys to Mental Health Series, I put the idea of a book that would help readers with stress at the top of my list of central topics. I wanted to find an author who had a natural flare for speaking directly to the reader, so that the eventual volume would be more of a personal tutorial than a text or a tome. One day Christiane, my aforementioned colleague, introduced me to Elizabeth Anne Scotts Web site. An expert on stress management herself, Christiane had found the information there to be particularly intelligent and unusually helpful. She recommended that I take a look. When I opened the link, I was immediately intrigued and impressed. Scott, I thought, really has her finger on the pulse of people with stress and knows how to help them. From her site I could see that she had an extremely accessible and smart writing styleand lots to say.

One might think that Scott, a young mother of two who married her freshman-year sweetheart, could not personally know much about stress. Nothing could be further from the truth. At 15 she survived a devastating car accident, emerging with her neck, pelvis, and arm broken. It took her many, many months to recover emotionally as well as physically and to catch up academically and socially with her classmates. During that ordeal she both learned and taught herself plenty about managing stress. What she gained during that trying time further helped her to survive the pressures of college and young motherhood. Now she juggles caring for her family with writing her PhD dissertation, while also meeting the demands of authorship. Stress management is definitely high on Scotts personal agenda.

8 Keys to Stress Management contains the best and most useful information and techniques that Scott has amassed following her accident, as a student and a professional. You will see from her writing that she is a natural-born teacher and you will be comforted by her encouraging tone. The book is well organized in a logical progression and is full of instructive as well as illustrative exercises that will help you from the first chapter to begin lowering your own stress. Scotts volume is a terrific addition to the 8 Keys to Mental Health Series.

H ow would it feel to be able to go through your day feeling less stressed about problems that arise, without needing to prevent the unpreventable? To see opportunities that others might miss and to open doors that lead to new paths of happiness? To better savor the good times and to let the bad times roll off your back more easily? With a little practice, this can be your new norm.

This book has been written to help you shift your whole experience of stress in your life, so that you have a whole new range of possibilities. You will learn techniques that will help you to better manage the stress you face, strategies for structuring your lifestyle that will enhance your internal and external coping resources, and habits that can increase your resilience to stressors you will inevitably encounter as you move through life.

I know from experienceboth personal and professionalthat these techniques work. I have received feedback from clients and readers that the strategies in these pages have helped people live healthier, happier lives. I have also practiced virtually all the techniques discussed in these pages at least once and can attest that they do work. This collection of stress management tools has helped me to effectively cope with everything from mundane life hassles to serious crises and major life challenges, and it can help you as well.

You cannot eliminate stress from your life, and you may even face stress that momentarily throws you off balance. However, these techniquesused either alone or in different combinationscan enable you to quickly get back to a place of feeling centered, sometimes even before you realize you needed centering. In fact, several of these strategies can help you to learn and grow from the stress you face, coming out stronger in the process. Rather than merely surviving the stress in your life, you can thrive through the process of learning to cope. This book will show you how.