Taking Control of Stress

Related links

• Visit the ISMA website
• Music for Relaxation
• Top 10 Stress Busting Tips

In our quest for relaxation we talk to Ann McCracken, the chair of the International Stress Management Association for the UK, and also a hypnotherapist.

Ann helps people on a daily basis understand the stresses and strains in their lives, and most importantly develops strategies to deal with them. Bob Jones caught up with Ann for Classic FM Arts Daily as she geared up for National Stress Awareness Day on Wednesday 4 November ...

BJ: Are we more stressed out today than in year's gone by?

AM: I think we’re' differently pressurised today. I like to use the word stressed as  meaning an ill health reaction to too much pressure and I think we use the word  'stressed' too much and it is quite a negative statement to yourself to say you're  
feeling stressed. So pressure is good for you, but are we over-pressured. I think  it's a very different life it's all about the expectations of life nowadays. Fifty  to seventy years ago the expectations were much less and therefore the pressures were  different. They were more about survival and the more basic level expectations.  Nowadays, survival, certainly in Britain, is looked after by the government and  thereafter there is a huge desire for consumer goods so a lot of pressure on people.  Usually brought on by themselves.

BJ: So this self-imposed pressure?

AM: Yes it is self-imposed a lot of it. There's a sort of 'keeping-up-with-the-joneses' concept which may always have been there but it was a different level of keeping up. So yes, I do think we are more pressured. With 50% of the work force being women they have the dual job, often of bringing up the children and working. Although men are now I think are in quite a challenging position as well.

BJ: If this pressure is self-imposed, does that also mean that the answer to it and the way to become less-pressured, or less bothered by pressure, that's also in our hands.

AM: Oh very much so. I think any situation has two sides to it - it's like a coin. You also have choices and people don't believe that they have as many choices as they have. We make choices more from what we don't want than what we do.

BJ: Imagine I'm stressed. What should I do? Is it wrong to come to you and expect you to tell me what to do?

AM: It's not wrong. I think it's a very positive thing to do. And infact I have a plaque outside my consulting room which says 'the last chance'. This is last chance I have to do something about it. I am the last resort. But they have often tried other  
things but not stuck with them. A lot of our thinking habits have been well-honed over years and it takes a professional o pick out which of these beliefs need to be challenged by the individual. so we listen very carefully to what people tell us  
about their problems and their issues and then if there is a ill-health aspect we encourage them to go to their GP and get that looked at. The most important thing is thinking about the way they think. If they think they can't that's probably true and if they think they can then that's probably true as well. It's about turning around these beliefs.

BJ: So it may be a question of thinking 'I have a lot to do, but I know I can do it if I do it in the right way'

AM: Absolutely: 'I have a lot to do, but perhaps I should prioritise it and find out  what's most important in my life at present that I have to do first'. Usually the  others fall off the end of the pile because they weren't that important in the first  place. Then you've got personality types as well. Some people are Type A personalities, they have to do everything right and they have to do everything first, they have to do it quickly and they have to succeed all the time. They put huge pressures on themselves. some of them are very detailed and they'll often be very late at providing a report or information because they want it to be perfect. There is no such thing as perfection, there's always room for improvement and they always try to. so those type of traits can be quite limiting for the individual. They need to learn to become more self aware and of what they can do about it. That usually is astonishing for them. They walk out of my consulting room, you know they come in with  
their shoulders down and their heads down and they walk out with hope.

BJ: In terms in your surroundings and the way that you life your life. Is that important as well?

AM: Well everything is important because it makes up you and what your expectations are for your life and then what other people’s expectations are as well. so the only things you can change are the things you have control over and when you haven't got that control the key thing is acceptance until you have more control. I think a lot of people spend a lot of time trying to change things that they don't have control over, but people who want to change big things like the environment and all those type of things need to nibble away at it slowly and that's exactly what they do, they make small steps. You know it's like eating an Elephant - a bite at a time - it's amazing what you can do when you realise that you don't have control but you want to change that you have to think if that's on a personal level or a national level.

BJ: Do you have top tips of simple things that people can do?

AM: No I take each person as they are and work with them because top tips are somewhere to start. On the ISMA website there lots of tips. This year, National Stress Awareness Day is on the 4th November and we've got 7 tips for Stressing the  
Positives.

BJ: How important is music to your work?

AM: To me, music is very important because I am a musician, but I'm also a hypnotherapist and music can be a wonderful trigger to help people into altered state, a different state be it a thoughtful state or a relaxed state - whatever they need to achieve. Music can also be stimulating of course so you can use it in a positive way for people who are perhaps depressed, they can work with a more stimulating type of music which I find to be very successfully.

BJ: How do you relax?

AM: I walk the dogs. I'm fortunate to live in the country and every morning I go out walking with my dogs in fields and along the canal and I just marvel at the environment and the weather - even if it's raining it's fine because I'm dressed for  
it and it feels very invigorating. That's how I relax. I also do a lot of my thinking time then when I'm writing a book or writing an article, that's usually where the thoughts come from. Infact I use one of my dogs in my presentations and public  
speaking.

Listen to the full interview here

National Stress Awareness Day is on Wednesday 4 November. Visit www.isma.org.uk to find out more. You can also listen to an online relaxation session with Ann McCracken which will help to revitalise yourself in body and mind and think more positively.