Self-Help: Coping with Stress Due to Taking on Too Much

How to Cope when Responsibilities Get Too Heavy

These days life seems to be more hectic and demanding. People might worry more about what the future holds with the economical situation seeming so unstable. Many will see nothing for themselves other than a continuation of heavy responsibility from the past.

Do you wonder how you managed to get into this situation in the first place and more importantly, are you starting to lose hope? Past dreams and ambitions are being suddenly shattered by the sharp shock of reality?

Duty and responsibility can and will help strengthen personality. Commitments, responsibilities and obligations all go towards enriching your character. They make you a more responsible and reliable person. But when duty gets to become a burden and starts taking over your life, it's time perhaps to have a good think about this.

Are some Obligations Really Necessary?

First of all you must decide whether you're comfortable with current obligations. Are they really necessary? Do you get any satisfaction from them or are they leaving you with no time to call your own? Duty should be a branch, a by-product of ourselves, what we value and what is important to us. It shouldn't swamp you so much that you lose touch with the real you.

Just as the body gets tired and needs rest to recuperate, your mind and spirit also need a lift at times in order to make you feel more cheerful and even hopeful. You can't carry on feeling dull and miserable all the time but it's up to you to do something positive about this.

Have you Tried Telling People How you Feel?

If others are demanding too much from you, they may not realise how you really feel. Have you tried talking to them? If you have and you get the impression that they're taking advantage of your good nature, then again, it's important to change things so that you're not the one who's always left with the major share of joint commitments.

Is too much Responsibility Starting to Exhaust You?

Has having too much responsibility left you so drained of energy that you cannot be assertive and you won't look after your own rights? If so, then call upon those hidden reserves, deep down within you. Make one last effort to find the initiative and do something to change your life so that duties are delegated, responsibility shared and you get the rest and relaxation you're currently in need of.

Are you Stuck in a Rut?

Sometimes people stick with the same situation day in and day out when others would have given up on it years ago. But what good is such persistence doing? People get this crazy idea that if they hang on, things will change but do they?

Could it be that it is this very persistence that's intensifying an already miserable situation? It might help if you took some time away from your usual environment. Seek out a change of scene and then view your life from a distance. This might help you come up with the solutions to your problem.

Remember then, that in some situations, it is better to leave and call it a day. Just as in other circumstances, perseverance WILL work. What you have to do is decide which is which and then act accordingly.