You and Your Stress

It does not matter if you’re in business for yourself, high powered exec or a stay at home mom ... stress can get to you. Your understanding and personal experience help you define what stress means to you. As an entrepreneurs you may be challenged with what it means for you personally the impact of stress from work and how difficult it can be to make strong decisions regarding starting your a new company. You know stress can be linked to making decisions about going into business for ourselves, heading back to school, and the impact (either positive or negative) on your financial wellness. All of these are great examples of "External Stressor" that you can experience and they differ from "Internal Stressors."

Let me give a working example so you can better understand the difference of these two types of stress: "You make a change in priorities and as a result you begin to have less than healthy levels of nutrients in your diet, you forget to exercise and/or your sleeping patterns change all of which impact your metabolism. The impact is your body's inability to metabolize food properly and burn any excess fat and begin affecting your internal organs' ability to work properly. Wow! Just imaging what happens over the course of months - what is happening to your internal body will affect your ability to make decision. Staying motivated and empowered during times of stress allows you to be able to identify potential stressors and stay healthier.

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Life Coach and Business Coach Karen Kleinwort is the founder Therapy in Transition and is a Certified Professional Coach specializing in the integration of her clients' mind, body and spirit into her Personal Empowerment Coaching practice. For more information, visit www.coachkarenk.com. www.therapyintransition.org, www.empowermentforme.com or contact her at success@coachkarenk.com.

Where Your Truth Goes, Your Confidence Follows

So you now know how confident you are, right? I mean, when ranking yourself regarding your confidence level, you were truthful, right? Oh, you mean you stretched the truth a little? Oh well, that’s okay because we all do it: stretch the truth, I mean. But if you can’t be honest with yourself, then with whom can you be honest? Knowing your truth is the second critical piece to being confident. The first was realizing that all your actions and reactions to life's events and decisions impacted your confidence level. Truth is what empowers you to step out of your comfort zone confidently and take the actions or steps necessary in life.

In the first part of this three-part series you were introduced to your two main life accounts into which all your actions, decisions and experiences are either made deposits into or taken from as withdrawals from your integrity and confidence accounts. Remember that both these accounts affect your level of success in your career, your relationships, and your overall personal wellness.

Your confidence level will dictate how you handle and manage your stress. Some stress is important in life, but extreme stress can be hazardous. Your goal is to be able to handle yourself regarding decision-making during times of crisis as well as you do during normal circumstances. With a lower confidence level it becomes more difficult for you to make effective decisions.

Examples of normal stress or daily triggers of your stress might be balancing your checkbook, creating employee schedules at work, or arranging a food drive for the local food bank. While moving through these situations, your physical, emotional and mental bodies are working according to plan. There may be emotions you experience such as frustration due to trying to coordinate others' schedules and availability, but these frustrations are easily worked through and released. There are no residual emotions floating around; in other words, you've let them go and moved on.

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