Chicken Little Spotted on Wall Street - Market Up - Market Down - Stress Up!

It is scary out there! Wherever we look we are bombarded by more bad news; global economic crisis, housing slump, market tanking, currencies going up and down (mostly down), energy costs, job instability, life savings disappearing, and retirement becoming a distant dream. The bad news just goes on and on. Some days Chicken Little can clearly be heard screaming, "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!" Normally, we would laugh at 'chicken littles' but these days we are beginning to wonder if little old Chicken is right!It might be safe to say that if you have access to television, internet, and you are a thinking person then you are probably stressed out! Every day tends to bring the new worst case scenario and our first instinct can be to run for cover. We are only human and most of the current chaos is well beyond the control of any of us. Don't know about the rest of you, but personally we really dislike not being able to control those factors that are having a huge impact on our lives now and on future plans! Somedays we feel really ticked off at what's going on and other days we just feel totally stuck.Well, seems like we are in good company. Many recent studies report people experiencing increased stress, having trouble sleeping, feeling irritable or angry, and suffering from fatigue. Sound familiar? Some people will suffer headaches, digestive upsets, muscular tension, even heart or respiratory symptoms can worsen. Stress does manifest itself physically, and yet it seems that a lot of people choose to ignore the warning signs and actually report that they "handle stress well". This is worrying because if you ignore physical symptoms of stress things are just going to get worse, and unfortunately for some, that is going to spell illness.But enough doom and gloom! Why not upgrade your active coping skills?While everything "out there" is chaotic and you maybe aren't sure where to invest your hard earned money or future dreams, you can still invest in your future by upgrading your ability to deal with stress on an ongoing basis. It is about the only thing that you have 100% control over. One of the primary aspects to our model of "Living Balance" is Active Coping. This means taking a boldly proactive stance towards stress management. With Active Coping you can build skills that lead to resilience, increase your capacity to bounce back, keep some balance in your life, and retain a level of confidence in handling whatever comes (or is thrown) your way.Start small and you will see some instant results with these strategies:-- Learn from the info, but avoid the hype--Limit the 24/7 cycle of recycled bad news,--Focus on "what is", not "what if"--Don't waste energy regretting past decisions: release it, learn from it, or upgrade it--Keep your future goals in view: readjust a timeline or alter a step or two as required--Do the math. As much as you don't want to look right now: open the bills, check your credit card, investment, and bank statements, and know your budget. It's your money, take responsibility--Stick with the basics: keep exercising, keep eating well, and make sure you get at least 6 hours sleep each and every night.

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