Switching on your Stress Container ‘Taps’ this World Mental Health Day

With World Mental Health Day on 10th October, we’re thinking about ways to combat stress and make our mental health that bit more manageable.

Have you heard of the Stress Container? We regularly refer to this in our mental health at work workshops. We think it’s a really tangible tool for ‘knowing’ your stress and identifying overwhelm before it strikes. 

Introducing your Stress Container 

Imagine you have a bucket (a ‘container’) inside your body which collects all of your stress. The size of the container reflects how vulnerable you are to stress. Your genetics, life experiences and environment all impact how large or small your container is.

Stresses around work, home life, illness or finances all ‘add’ stress, filling up the container.

Once your container becomes full or overflowing, then this is when problems occur. How this manifests depends on your personal ’stress signature.’ This may be irritability and snappiness, fatigue, over-eating or drinking (to name a few). 

Turning on the Taps

Learning effective ways of coping with stress is a way of stopping the container from overflowing. Think of this as ‘turning on the taps’ or releasing the valve of the container. These include things like talking through problems with someone, getting a good night’s sleep, taking a walk in nature. Beware of unhelpful coping mechanisms, which might actually make things worse (switching off or clogging up the tap!). Such as drinking too much alcohol or bottling your feelings up.

Positive Coping Strategies

Now that your understand how the Stress Container workshops, take a moment to reflect on the sorts of ‘taps’ or positive coping strategies you might already have in your skillset.  It can be helpful to think back to a time when you found something stressful, and reflect on how you coped with this. Having an early night, staying off social media and practicing some deep belly breathing are amongst some of our go-to tools for stressful times. 

Let us know on instagram or LinkedIn what stress container ‘taps’ work for you. 

And if you’re looking for some ideas for your World Mental Health Day plans at work, browse our Mental Health at Work workshops here, or drop us a line if you’d like to arrange a quick call.