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Tip 2: Practice The 4 A's of Stress Management

The document discusses the 4 A's of stress management: avoid, alter, adapt, and accept. To avoid stress, eliminate unnecessary stressors, learn to say no, avoid stressful people, and remove yourself from stressful environments. To alter stress, express your feelings, be willing to compromise, and create a balanced schedule. To adapt, reframe problems, look at the big picture, adjust your standards, and practice gratitude. To accept, don't try to control uncontrollable situations, look for upsides, learn to forgive, share your feelings, and accept things you can't change.

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Fasra Chiong
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63 views4 pages

Tip 2: Practice The 4 A's of Stress Management

The document discusses the 4 A's of stress management: avoid, alter, adapt, and accept. To avoid stress, eliminate unnecessary stressors, learn to say no, avoid stressful people, and remove yourself from stressful environments. To alter stress, express your feelings, be willing to compromise, and create a balanced schedule. To adapt, reframe problems, look at the big picture, adjust your standards, and practice gratitude. To accept, don't try to control uncontrollable situations, look for upsides, learn to forgive, share your feelings, and accept things you can't change.

Uploaded by

Fasra Chiong
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Tip 2: Practice the 4 A’s of stress management

While stress is an automatic response from your nervous system, some


stressors arise at predictable times: your commute to work, a meeting with
your boss, or family gatherings, for example. When handling such
predictable stressors, you can either change the situation or change your
reaction. When deciding which option to choose in any given scenario, it’s
helpful to think of the four A’s: avoid, alter, adapt, or accept.
The four A’s – Avoid, Alter, Adapt & Accept
Avoid unnecessary stress
It’s not healthy to avoid a stressful situation that needs to be addressed, but you may b
by the number of stressors in your life that you can eliminate.
Learn how to say “no.” Know your limits and stick to them. Whether in your personal
professional life, taking on more than you can handle is a surefire recipe for stress. Dis
between the “shoulds” and the “musts” and, when possible, say “no” to taking on too m
Avoid people who stress you out. If someone consistently causes stress in your life
amount of time you spend with that person, or end the relationship.
Take control of your environment. If the evening news makes you anxious, turn off t
traffic makes you tense, take a longer but less-traveled route. If going to the market is
unpleasant chore do your grocery shopping online.
The four A’s – Avoid, Alter, Adapt & Accept
Pare down your to-do list. Analyze your schedule, responsibilities, and daily tasks. If
too much on your plate, drop tasks that aren’t truly necessary to the bottom of the list o
them entirely.
Alter the situation
If you can’t avoid a stressful situation, try to alter it. Often, this involves changing the w
communicate and operate in your daily life.
Express your feelings instead of bottling them up. If something or someone is both
be more assertive and communicate your concerns in an open and respectful way. If y
exam to study for and your chatty roommate just got home, say up front that you only h
minutes to talk. If you don’t voice your feelings, resentment will build and the stress wil
Be willing to compromise. When you ask someone to change their behavior, be willi
same. If you both are willing to bend at least a little, you’ll have a good chance of findin
middle ground.
Create a balanced schedule. All work and no play is a recipe for burnout. Try to find
between work and family life, social activities and solitary pursuits, daily responsibilitie
downtime.
Adapt to the stressor
If you can’t change the stressor, change yourself. You can adapt to stressful situations
your sense of control by changing your expectations and attitude.
The four A’s – Avoid, Alter, Adapt & Accept
Reframe problems. Try to view stressful situations from a more positive perspective.
fuming about a traffic jam, look at it as an opportunity to pause and regroup, listen to y
radio station, or enjoy some alone time.
Look at the big picture. Take perspective of the stressful situation. Ask yourself how
will be in the long run. Will it matter in a month? A year? Is it really worth getting upset
answer is no, focus your time and energy elsewhere.
Adjust your standards. Perfectionism is a major source of avoidable stress. Stop set
up for failure by demanding perfection. Set reasonable standards for yourself and othe
learn to be okay with “good enough.”
Practice gratitude. When stress is getting you down, take a moment to reflect on all t
you appreciate in your life, including your own positive qualities and gifts. This simple s
help you keep things in perspective.
Accept the things you can’t change
Some sources of stress are unavoidable. You can’t prevent or change stressors such
of a loved one, a serious illness, or a national recession. In such cases, the best way t
stress is to accept things as they are. Acceptance may be difficult, but in the long run,
than railing against a situation you can’t change.
Don’t try to control the uncontrollable. Many things in life are beyond our control, p
the behavior of other people. Rather than stressing out over them, focus on the things
The four A’s – Avoid, Alter, Adapt & Accept
control such as the way you choose to react to problems.
Look for the upside. When facing major challenges, try to look at them as opportuniti
personal growth. If your own poor choices contributed to a stressful situation, reflect on
learn from your mistakes.
Learn to forgive. Accept the fact that we live in an imperfect world and that people ma
mistakes. Let go of anger and resentments. Free yourself from negative energy by forg
moving on.
Share your feelings. Expressing what you’re going through can be very cathartic, eve
nothing you can do to alter the stressful situation. Talk to a trusted friend or make an a
with a therapist.

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