5 Ways to Creatively Handle Stress and Stay in Shape By Rick H. Carter

Fighting against stress sometimes feels like trying to herd cats. The harder you work, the behinder you get. And that means less time to workout and stay in shape. The result is that fighting against stress not only tires you out, but destroys your ability to recharge your batteries to maintain the fight. One of the overlooked bad health effects of stress is that it takes away your ability to fight against these bad effects.

Developing your creative problem solving can help you fight stress. Managing the effects of stress on your body means more than just battling how stress manifests itself in your health. It means creatively solving the problem causing the stress in the first place. This goes a long way towards managing the physical symptoms of anxiety attacks. Having a stress management system that uses creative problem solving to end the stress will give you the ability to stay in shape.

Here are 5 ways that using creative problem solving can maintain your health in the face of stress:

1. By removing the stress. Removing the stress allows you to get back to your routine sooner.
2. By coming up with alternatives that minimize the effects of stress on your life. This may mean having more time to workout, or it may mean less worry about the outcome, letting you concentrate on your health.
3. Getting other people involved in the solution. Creative problem solving is usually best done with a group focused on the problem. Very often, these people will then take up some of the fight against the stressor, freeing you up a little bit.
4. Approaching the problem objectively reduces your emotional investment. This in turn reduces your "fight or flight" reaction, which minimizes the wear and tear on your body systems.
5. Work your fitness into the stress solution. Know when you need physical or mental strength to maintain the fight, and focus your fitness routine on those moments.

Creative problem solving can sometimes give you the separation and objectivity necessary to work out an efficient solution to the stress. But using singular approaches, like meditation or time management, won't eliminate the symptoms of anxiety attacks and panic attacks that are so debilitating. Stress is very creative in how it attacks you. You should be equally creative in attacking it back.

Creative problem solving needs to be a key part of what you do to relieve stress. But this is rarely mentioned. Stress management stems that are built on techniques, like meditation or diet, cannot help you develop the creative skill necessary to solve the stress situation. Not using creativity is like reading the lines of the play without using the feedback from the fellow actors to help your interpretation. Each stress situation has opportunities for advancement and improvement. Using a comprehensive stress management system which includes creative problem solving and thinking throughout will improve your looks by eliminating the stress faster and easier.

Picture your life when stress is not a concern and where you are the leader in stressful situations. To see exactly how you can do this, go to What to do to relieve stress. STRESS JUDO was developed by Rick Carter, a trial lawyer and martial artist. The courtroom has emotional and intellectual stress, and the dojo and fight ring has physical and psychological stress. It was to handle these stresses that STRESS JUDO was developed, to give you a fighting chance against stress, to turn stressful situations into opportunities.