How to manage stress during your resettlement
Category: Tips and Advice
Publish date: 05/05/2021
This month, we’d like to talk about how you can manage and overcome the stress experienced during different stages of your resettlement journey.
Throughout your transition, you’re likely to experience a whole range of emotions; with stress being high on the list. This is entirely normal, and taking into account your unique skills, personal perceptions, needs and comfort zones can help you identify which activities you’re most likely to find stressful.
Once you know what activities cause you to feel stressed, you can begin understanding why you find them stressful and how you can prevent them from affecting your transition.
Here are a few techniques you can practise to help manage your stress
Changing your mind-set The mind-set with which you anticipate an event, such as an interview, can influence your experience of that activity. So, to prevent stress taking over, you firstly need to pinpoint your existing beliefs and perceptions that are causing you to find that particular activity stressful – i.e. assuming you don’t have the skills needed for the role.
Once you’ve done this; think, read and talk with others to help you shift your mind-set to one that allows you to approach the event positively with self-belief and confidence. Proactively taking steps to do this will help you achieve a positive mind-set, as you take control of the situation instead of letting the situation control you.
Remember your qualities It’s perfectly normal to not be familiar with every aspect of your resettlement; after all, you may not have had to search for a job or create a CV in a long time. If you do find yourself struggling, instead of allowing stress to take hold, think back to activities in the military that are similar to the one you’re undertaking now that you’ve had success with in the past.
This will allow you to identify how you previously achieved success and enable you to implement the same practices now. And remember to reach out for the support that is available to you to help alleviate any concerns you may have.
Understand your needs By undertaking self-awareness assessments, you’ll gain a much better understanding of the relationship between unmet needs and unproductive behaviours. If you never allow yourself time away from your resettlement process, you’re more likely to begin feeling stressed and begin procrastinating.
So, to ensure you remain productive throughout your transition, ensure that you understand and continue to meet all of your basic needs (rest, nourishment, breaks etc.) as well as any identified by assessment activities. Also, be sure to get feedback from those closest to you, what are they seeing, and how can they help?
Managing stress effectively throughout your resettlement can be key to both your overall success, and maintaining your wellbeing. Taking care of your mental and physical health during your transition is essential, and handling stress properly can go a long way to helping you do so.
And remember, if you’re ever feeling overwhelmed, your CTP Career Consultant is always here to support you.