The Stress Container

This blog is written by Claire Turner, HDN’s newly joined Training & Consultancy Coordinator, bringing fresh insight and perspective to the team.

Life is busy and at times it can feel overwhelming. Whether it’s at home, in our local communities, or in the wider world, there’s a lot going on and it can stretch our resilience.

A certain amount of stress is part of everyday life, and it can be helpful – it gives is focus, motivation and energy to get things done. But when stress builds up and isn’t managed it becomes a problem and affects our physical and mental wellbeing.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and this year’s theme is ‘Take Action’ – encouraging us to move beyond awareness to taking practical steps to support ourselves and others.

One simple but powerful way to think about stress is The Stress Container model. The concept behind this tool is to imagine yourself as a container. The size of the container varies depending on how much stress we can hold at a given time; some may have a higher tolerance while may feel full more quickly and have a smaller container. Neither is right or wrong; it simply reflects where we are and what we’re dealing with.

What’s important is that regardless of the size every container needs a ‘tap’ to release pressure.

When stress levels build up without release the container overfills. This is often when we start to notice signs like irritability, tearfulness, low energy, lack of focus, isolating ourselves from family and friends, procrastination. You might recognise some of these in yourself.

You can open the tap with helpful coping mechanisms such as getting some exercise, eating well, time with family and friends, enjoying a hobby, reading or simply taking time to rest and do the things you enjoy. These are the activities that help restore your energy and allow stress to flow out.

On the flip side, there are also unhelpful ways of coping – the ones that block that tap or increase the stress levels. Things like working excessively long hours to try and distract us from the stress, not sleeping and eating properly or relying on alcohol. Many of us will turn to these from time to time and that’s human. The key is noticing when this is becoming normal and bringing the focus back to the things that really help.

So, on the days when the going gets tough, take a moment to imagine your stress container. How full is it? What can you do to release a little pressure?
Stress is part of modern life, but the Stress Container can help us understand our stress and that of others. It also prompts an important question:

Are we coping and what small action could we take today to open the tap?

For you to reflect on:
• What helps you open your tap?
• What unhelpful coping habit could you do less of?
• What one small thing could you do differently today?