STRESS BUSTERS

Shilpa Bhasin Mehra

Stress is known to be the number one killer of modern times. But except repeatedly saying that, “I am so stressed”, we sadly don't do much about it.

What is stress actually? The dictionary defines it ‘as a condition to describe our physical and mental state in a situation that demands that kind of seriousness and tension'. Like if a family member is critically ill, you are bound to be stressed. There is little good that comes out of being stressed and the harms are plentiful. The hazardous effects it has on our health makes me wonder that why don't we do something about it. All the ailments are somewhat related to stress, be it high blood pressure, heart disease, spondilytis, migraines, ulcers, asthma and so many others.

The medicines that doctors prescribe for stress are mainly tranquilisers that have a limited effect. They are not remedies for the problem. The real remedy lies in our hands, how we handle stress. To think it will disappear from our world is living in a fool's paradise. We have to change our attitude towards the problems in our lives. Before getting very angry, simply ask yourself, how does it help by fretting and fuming? The traffic won't suddenly vanish. We are just raising our B.P. by fretting over it. If we were so concerned about reaching our meeting on time, we should have left a margin for the traffic jam and started 10 minutes earlier. Just the way, we have dispute resolution, we need to have stress resolution techniques. The techniques will obviously vary from individual to individual, since the factors that cause stress differ for every person.

Exercise is known to be the best stress buster. Do whatever suits your lifestyle and personality, be it a walk, a sport, swimming or yoga. It has numerous benefits. I get fascinated by the breathing exercises in yoga that tell us to breath in deeply and when breathing out, throw out all our toxins, negativities and stress. We are so concerned about the pollution around us, but what about the toxins that we harbor inside ourselves. They are more harmful than the polluted air. We like to scrub ourselves clean when having a bath, so let us clean the toxins from inside as well.

There is no doubt that lawyers have a very stressful life. So the need to handle stress effectively is all the more important. An easy way to combat stress is to switch off the mind from work, when one is with the family and close people. Spend quality time with the important people in your life. Laughter is said to be the best medicine. Laugh at the children's jokes and pranks. Listen to your favourite music. Take a holiday when the work schedule permits. A sense of humor is the perfect stress busters for lawyers. A joke or laugh can relax the tense mind and lighten the atmosphere in the office and has even been appreciated by the judges in the court rooms. The legal profession, by its very nature, is very serious, so a sense of humor is a refreshing breather for the lawyers.

When Sir Edmund Hillary was asked about his great feat of conquering the highest peak in the world, he said that the most difficult summit to conquer is the summit of your own mind. So it eventually depends on us how we let stress disturb us. It boils down to us if we want to let a small incident ruin our mood. The paradox is that the person who is stressed is basically harming himself, the world around him is hardly affected.

It has become cliché to say ‘I am so stressed', it's the most commonly used statement in today's conversation. The word was made with reference to a certain context, let's not use it for trivial issues, or it may lose its relevance totally.

When shopping, we ask the price of the item and think before buying, is it worth it? So, the next time you are getting angry or stressed, just ask yourself the same question, is the stress really worth it??