How to Help Someone Who is Stressed

Whether or not you are feeling stressed at this time, there are likely people in your life who are coming to you with the things that they are stressed or worried about.

Here are three things you can do to help them:

First, if somebody contacts you to talk about the things that they’re upset about, make sure you understand what they’re hoping to get from the conversation. It’s possible that they just want to vent, but it’s also possible that they might want some support or that they’re looking for advice/ ideas they can use to help them through whatever they contacted you about.

I will sometimes say, “I’m here if you just want to vent, but if you’re looking for advice or just some support, I can do that, too … just let me know.”

Second, if there’s more than one thing that’s worrying them, ask which of the things they’re worried about they have control over. Separating things into the “controllables” and the “non-controllables” reduces anxiety because we want to focus on the things we actually have some control over.

Third, when they have done identifying the things they can control, help them identify the most important one – the one they want to work on first.

Isolating one thing that we’re going to work on removes all the clutter from our minds and helps us focus on that one thing. It kind of clears out some of that mind trash that can happen when we have too much going on in our minds.

I hope these ideas help! And you may have found while just reading this that some of these things would help you with your stress or worry, too.

Finally, if you or someone you know is feeling extra cruddy, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can help: 1-800-273-8255

Question: Are there any other ways you can help people in your life who are feeling stressed? What would you like someone to do to help you when you are stressed?