Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Women Over 50 Need Tools To Help Deal With Stress

You may be feeling more stress than the average person if you’re a female and over 50. The stress load might grow daily no matter how you try to cope with it. One example may be that you’re probably trying to deal with adult children, grandchildren and or aging parents. You also might have a stressful job, aging issues and health problems. And you probably aren’t thrilled with menopause creeping around the corner.
Women 50 or over can also experience pressure from money problems, such as paying your children’s college loans, and health issues that can be related to weight gain. Due to a number of these circumstances, women are now seeking counseling. Here are a few tips that may also help or that you may want to try before you feel you need counseling.
1). Don’t go it alone. It’s okay to ask a lot of people for a little help. For example, ask one daughter to check in on your mother on Mondays and Fridays, and ask another to check on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
2). To help you take control of future problems, be more demanding. Stop allowing able-bodied people to run you ragged. Tell your husband to make his own doctors’ appointment, for instance.
3). Realize you’re not 20 anymore. Look out for yourself in new creative ways. Instead of trying to keep the house spotless, steal some time to exercise.
4). Gain support for yourself by getting a girlfriend network going. Yes, you may have to listen to a lot of their problems, but friends your age will understand your pain.
Women over 50 sometimes need to give up their nice ways. Some have been taught to be nice and agreeable even at the expense of hurting themselves. Think of this age as the time to become more powerful. Insist doctors and other professionals do their job to your satisfaction. If not, then fire them and find more competent help.
Finally, don’t forget that those who are in a good mood look healthier and sexier. While you face life head on, humor keeps you from dragging others down. Making good choices about food, health, money and time issues are hard to deal with. But humor will help you keep your looks and sustain your mental well-being.

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