The Subtle Art of Stressbusting
By Nick Pelling
Do you suffer from stress? And if you do, do you have methods to de-stress yourself? Correct methods do not include a large gin or smashing your laptop with a sledgehammer. In fact, people who say that sort of crass thing are probably not aware of just how dangerous stress can be. It is not just about possible heart attacks. Stress can affect our health in multiple ways. Stress can make you look old. It can ruin your sex life. It can stop you sleeping. Apparently, it can even make your teeth fall out.
But the good news is that we can learn to spot signs of stress and train ourselves to turn down our internal anxiety speaker. The Hastings Voluntary Action (HVA) group are offering such training. On May 13 at Jackson Hall there is a class in what is called ‘emotional resilience.’ It is free to attend and, although people will be expected to share some of their experiences, it will not entail revealing anything too personal, if people do not wish to do so.
The aim of the session is to understand why we find certain experiences or future possibilities stressful. It is important to recognise triggers early. And beyond that, to work out strategies and tools for dealing with rising stress levels. It is also hoped that sharing experiences will create a much greater sense that you are not alone in this struggle. It is vital that individuals know who they can turn to when times get tough. This is a three-hour course but follow-up sessions should enable people to deepen their understanding of what lurks within the realm of stress.
HVA needs to be rather better known than it perhaps is. It provides an enormous range of services. In addition to numerous training classes, the organisation offers advice, inzformation, connections and various quality services. Importantly, it also welcomes new volunteers, whether that is in terms of groups or individuals.
The aim of the charity is to generally enhance the quality of life of the people in Hastings. In many ways, it seems that what they do is give some co-ordination to the various voluntary and charity groups in this town.
Incredibly, there are over 400 charity and voluntary groups in this borough. There is, of course, the danger of overlap, as if the left helping-hand never quite knows what the right helping-hand is doing. But HVA tries to prevent that. In its own words it says that HVA provides “infrastructure support” to all the multiple agencies of goodwill dotted around Hastings.
The ideology behind HVA is emphatically about equality of rights to support. It welcomes diversity and opposes all manner of discrimination. Occasionally this can pull them into political areas. Their support for the Links Project, which seeks to help refugees and immigrants in Hastings, might be said to fall into that category. But their positive approach does feel a bit more constructive and compassionate than the current Tory offer of a one-way ticket to Rwanda. Oh dear, I have just pulled a stress trigger!
Maybe an emotional resilience class would be a really good idea.
• To book a place on the course or check out other courses or training go to: hastingsvoluntaryaction.org.uk/events
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