GRASP OF PRESSURE

... rests his back against the available
bed-bug-invested mattress finally to relax
what seemed to be a failing vertebral
column from the two hours standing
lecture he had managed to survive. It was
not enough that he heard about the test
late, and rushed to the class with little
knowledge of previous classes he never
attended hoping to at least get an average
score from one of the toughest lecturers in
the faculty. Every student feared the sound
of having a fixed class with Prof (as he was
popularly called) not to talk of an
unplanned test. He literally had the gift
and abilities of crushing your dreams of
becoming a first class student even if you
read the books of life, you still would
surprisingly score below your expectations.

"Test is cancelled! We will complete our
syllabus today to prepare for exams the
following week"

Prof announces as he face the marker
board. Poor Jim, he had to stand because
all seat were occupied by his colleagues
and some were already lapping themselves.

...less than a minute into a supposed world
of rest and Jim was awoken by a call from
his boss at work who doesn’t seem to
understand time nor season as the men of
Issachar do.

***picks call***

"hey boy! how far with the report I asked
you to do"

"Good day si..."

"you know the board will be around
tomorrow and we need to ready the reports
unfailingly today"

"I am aware sir bu..."

"you mean you haven't finished it yet and
still didn't come to work today?"

"I am almost done sir, it's just the..."

"almost done? Report to work immediately"

**Hangs up call***

By this time our dear Jim was super
stressed and unsettled. Going to work on
his off-day meant working late until utmost
satisfaction has been met. As he race to the
office in the busy traffic, his mind is
calculating ahead the response to
give his angered boss, his forthcoming final
exams and how he has to read up eight
courses in less than a week. He just has to
pass all final papers else it meant an extra
year for him. He had to work to support
himself since he wasn't getting enough
from home and needed the experience as
added advantage.

This is only a shadow of some people’s
story if not even you reading now. How
that we have become moonlighters steadily
waking up to a prepared hectic load of work daily from the many activities in family, school, work, relationship and life generally. At the beginning, you thought you could handle it right? “I will be fine” so you said to yourself. Merge school plus work plus fellowship, plus relationship, plus personal times etc. The pressure mounts up and the brain shuts down. Uncertain with what to do next, some resort to giving up, some find relieve in crying alone indoors (especially those with a weak self esteem), others just rag themselves up displaying to the world that they were surrounded by an army of flesh devouring soldiers with only one instruction “make her look like a living dead”. Not taking proper care of themselves, their body and appearance, lose of focus, emotional disorder, unsettled mind, racing thoughts, high blood pressure, heart attack and then finally the unfortunate.

"Success is not defined by the many
activities you are involved in but rather the
perfection and excellence you portray in a singular activity”

Many has had it up to their throat and are
loosing their breathe gradually from pressure. Do you know that depression itself is fuelled by pressure from society, rivals, acquaintance, mates and so much more peculiar to individuals. You shouldn’t neglect it any more.

Are you currently facing a lot of activities
and have come to the road of indecision or
inability to act on your own any more? Are
you being chocked with alot to do within a
short target time? Finding it difficult to relax and have a free fun time without checking back and forth your outstandings? In summary you are in the grasp of pressure and in dire need of help? Well you could have googled for solutions but am I not so glad that you decided to read this article. So am going to share with you few steps I intentionally took when I was in a pressure pot.

First you need to understand that I have not been certified a life coach psychologist or therapist, but by experience and continuous learning, I have been able to overcome pressure with the points below.

1. ORGANIZE YOUR ACTIVITIES & TIME: One of the first things you want to do is write out a list of all the activities you are presently involved in from family to work to school to fellowships to politics and the likes. Be sure to list them out with the dates and time of executing each task in this activities. For instance as a student, you have time tables stating when you have each lecture, when you will be free to do other things like your personal jobs, attending an urgent meeting by another group etc. Also you work from Monday to Friday, within the hours of 8am to 5pm you are entitled to an hour break, an opportunity to eat, relax and study for the masters program or professional course you applied for. List all your activities and know when to carry each task out.
2. IDENTIFY YOUR TRIGGERS: where along the execution of your daily routines do you find triggering stress the more, in what activity, in what area of your work, school, fellowship, relationship, finance, family and the rest. You want to know which of these stresses you more. So take your time and observe issues that comes up regularly, is it a one-off event or ongoing stressful event.
3. ADDRESS THE TRIGGERS ONE AFTER THE OTHER: To some, their play time is their triggers, their tablets and Laptop games or movies may be the source of their stress. Like having to over play a game or watch more movies when you have a lot of task undone, or staying up all night on social media for an important meeting the next day etc. Now address these issues by keeping boundaries, creating limits (just likes our data usage optimizers), setting time to play, to work smart, to rest and the likes. Address those pending disagreement in your home earlier before it becomes a wound and finally a black hole. Face every fear once and for all. Your happiness is key and shouldn’t be weighed down by your excesses.
4. ASK FOR HELP: If your find yourself in a situation you can’t handle on your own or need help, speak to someone about it. Ask for help. Most times you may just be a conversation away from the idea you need to badly finish a project. In the journey to the top, you need people to strengthen you just as they will discourage and criticise your works, uphold and support you. You are not a master of it all until people are involved. No people, no medal. Stay with positive people, people smarter than you, people more ambitious than you. People with a focus. People with dreams and determination.
5. ACCEPT CHANGE AND THE THINGS YOU CAN’T CHANGE: Change is inevitable but do you know there are some things you just can’t change you need to accept. Don’t beat yourself up if you fail in a relationship, if you fail a course, if you fail to submit a report earlier. Every error and mistake sharpens our knowledge on that thing. So take the defeat and rise to a better you. The road to success is not all melodious, there are off keys you needto face, distractions and the likes. In fact failure is a step to success.
6. ONCE IN A WHILE, TAKE A BREAK: For once go out to the movies, to the beach, go hiking, take a vacation, visit places you have never been to, expose yourself to nature, to relaxation where your mind eases up. Play with family and close friends, smile hard, laugh harder, be happy and for once forget about what has been choking your mind. It sure pays to pay yourself a treat.
7. EVALUATION: If after doing all of the above, take time to evaluate your mental state. Have you been relieved? Do you feel any better? For every new plan, make sure you evaluate after execution to know your progress.

Pressure has eaten deep into our lives especially the young adults and causes depression among them. Many has passed on because they couldn’t handle the whole of it. Don’t permit negative vibes. Reassure yourself of the greatness you are born for.

Say this with me:

"I (Affix your name) am born for greatness, I am not a failure, I refuse to be stressed, I am a born winner, the world has not seen yet greatness like me. The mighty may fall and be broken but I am stronger than that and I will succeed."

Congratulations! I wish you well as you encamp in this positive mindset. Kill Pressure before it hurts you

It has been a pleasure writing this I must confess and I will be glad to see more claps and comments from you my dearest readers. Don’t forget to follow also.

I remain yours always, Solanke Olamilekan Kayode.