How to Deal with Stress in Confrontational Situations

Having a strategy on how to deal with stress goes a long way to get you feeling normal again after a difficult day at work or in this case a challenging political meeting. You know another stressful confrontational situation will come up in your life. So in this blog, we are going to step back and break down the process of how to deal with stress into easy “baby steps”. This will give you a winning strategy you can employ in other areas of your life to reduce stress, get better rest and more complete recovery.

This question came from a student in a recent Tuesday Night Physical Reset Circle. The question was around relieving her lower back pain that began hurting during a stressful meeting at a local political headquarters. During class, my student realized the majority of the tension in her lower back had built up during the meeting as she was being yelled at by the head chairperson.

Always remember the 6 P’s: Proper Preemptive Planning Prevents Poor Performance…

You’ve got an idea beforehand that a meeting or gathering (think stressful holiday events, board room meetings, tense relationship dynamics) may not go so smoothly. You know there are going to be people you won’t see eye to eye with and you know there’ll be heated conversations. Go into the meeting prepared. There are things you can do throughout the day or several hours before the meeting to make sure you have the internal resources to handle anything that comes your way…

• Drink plenty of water – Your body needs water to think properly and to function. When your body is dehydrated, you immediately have less ability to deal with the stress.

• Don’t go into the meeting hungry – Make sure you eat some good healthy, protein-rich food before going to the meeting. If you’re short on time, start cooking in a crock pot the day before so you have a nice warm meal ready when you need it.

• Eat quality food – Candy bars and fast food don’t cut it! You’ll function much better with a nice warm home-cooked meal in your belly.

• Take a nap – It doesn’t have to be a long nap. Even a 5 minute rest is better than nothing. The point I’m trying to emphasize is, we are looking to have a brief “nervous system reset” to relieve some of the pressure you may be feeling by getting a little sleep or rest.
• Try Rescue Remedy by Bach – Rescue Remedy is a flower essence blend that is gentle, yet effectve at helping soothe the nerves and calm us down. I will often take a dose an hour before the meeting, and then again just before I go in.

• Bring clean water with you – Fill a water bottle with some spring water. Take it with you and sip regularly. It’s a function of getting hydrated and staying hydrated to keep your reserves topped off so they are there when you need them.

• Notice where tension is being held in your body – Become a “3rd Party Objective Observer” of the tension your body is taking on as you’re in the meeting. This means you can feel the tension build in your hips, lower back, chest, and/or neck while at the same time observing this tension building up in these areas of your body without judging it.

• Shift your body into position of comfort – with the awareness of the “3rd Party Objective Observer” you can begin to shift, adjust or move the position of your body to relieve the tension in the areas you’re observing gaining tension while you’re sitting in the stressful meeting. Consider bringing a cushion to sit on, a sweater or scarf in case you get chilled.

• Take frequent breaks – no one is making sit there the whole time! Take care of and put YOURSELF first! Get up, go to the bathroom, take your phone, send a text, make a short call, do jumping jacks, dance or do some kind of movement, walk and take your time coming back. This is especially useful during times of the meeting that aren’t so important.

• Drink more water (add sea salt if needed) See Original Gatorade for more info

• Work with Pain Pattern Interrupts as I teach in my Tuesday Night Reset Circle

• Try Natural Calm – Magnesium supplement to take before going to sleep

• Use Magnesium Oil – to apply topically to the areas of the body you notice the most tension in or feel the most stress from

• (*BONUS*) Take a hot bath with Epsom Salts added!

Remember you have to put the quality of your life and how you feel FIRST. Sure there’ll be some times you have to suck it up and push through parts of confrontational situations, meetings or gatherings. But by employing these little techniques on how to deal with stress, you’ll begin to see how much easier it is to make it through the meeting and not be so drained that you can’t be there for your family and loved ones…

If you need more support with stress and tension or need help unwinding knots and pain in your body, please reach out to me or join me either ONLINE or IN PERSON on Tuesday evenings for the Physical Reset Circle.

Are you interested to work with me in a one on one setting? If you are in the greater Asheville, NC area, you can work with me in person (click here). If you are further away, you can still work with me online. Contact me to see how we can make that work!