[Mister Q]

Modern life seems to be full of stress one way and another as we are all under increasing time related deadlines in most aspect of our lives.

Stress can be an downward spiral, you get put under pressure and get stressed and then you are stressed about being stressed.

Its also important to realise that stress will not go away overnight, it takes time to build up and so also takes time to go away, don't be afraid to seek help because there are sympahtetic doctors out there.

There is no one cure all for everyone, most of my battle was won by realising what was causing me problems and learning to cope with them and to a certain extent ignore some of them. Also I have learned to push back and not take on too much by letting others 'put on me' - its true what they say those who want something doing will ask a busy person! Tell them you will do it but can't until next tomorrow/next week etc its amazing how many never come back and ask again.

When I get stressed I take time out, walk away from the source of stress (usually work related!!) and go and do something else for a while, I find insignificant meaningless things help me re-focus.

Talking to others can be a great help and its weird because you often find yourself pouring it all out to the most unlikely people, a problem shared is a problem halved I guess.

For me regular excercise is a real stress buster, currently I am laid up post operative and unable to even think about any of the usual excercises I normally do and its making me a little blue.