Every one of you is dealing with stress. Everybody knows that it's bad for the health and everybody knows how to cope up with it. But do we really make the sincere efforts to deal with stress?

I would just like to draw your attention to a small story, which you might have heard sometime. A class teacher once drew the attention of his science class towards a glass full of water. He asked the class to guess the weight of the glass. Some one said 200ml and some one said 500ml and so on. The teacher now lifted the glass high in air at an angle of 180 degrees and asked the class as if he can hold the glass for how long. Again the surmises begin ranging from 2mins to 2hrs depending on the strength of the teacher. And the next question was, "what will happen after 15mins?" One student said that the hand would start hurting mildly. "And what will happen after 1hr?" The teacher asked. The class replied that the hand will strain and can lead to leukaemia too. But right then the teacher put down thew glass and asked the result. "Your hand will come to normal position after few seconds" the class said in unanimity. Now teacher explained that the glass is nothing but our mind and water is like worries. We keep carrying them till the time they lead us to disaster. And once we put them down, we are back in health. So why carry the burden of your worries from here to there.

It is, practically, impossible to avoid stress in today's fast changing world and the reasons could be different. One might have got a scolding from the boss or the teacher, or one might had a fight with a friend or a loved one. One might be unable to complete a task or might be searching for a task to complete (unemployed)… the reasons could be different but one thing is sure that everyone is stressed irrespective of his/her biological state.

However all stress is not bad so no need to avoid it either. There is good stress also known as "eustress" which helps indirectly. Studies have shown that one performs best under stress. The pressure to reach the deadlines makes people perform. But it is helpful only in short term. Thus one must always try to avoid stress and if not possible, direct it to positive side…

So here are some of the tips, which are practical, does not consume much of your time and may help you not only overcome stress but also avoid it in future. Try them…

1. Talk: whenever stressed, talk to some one who can listen to you, may be your best friend, your mom, etc.
2. Take deep breaths: sounds clichéd but it works. Try it whenever you are in stress.
3. Eat, sleep, exercise: it's the guru mantra, the panacea. All three in balance and stress cannot even touch you.
4. Smile: it covers a mile.
5. Recognize your potential: learn to love yourself; after all you are the best.
6. Pursue your hobby: don't be afraid to pursue your hobbies at any age, after all who cares.
7. Maintain a diary: when no one is there to listen, pour out yourself on a piece of paper. You will feel lighter.
8. Take breaks: it misguides the stress. It comes in instalments and you can deal with it.
9. Listen: very hard to practice but help you in long run.

Well, these are some of the golden rules to deal with stress, call them "the power of 9".

And yes, start working now because,

"Even if you're on the right track you'll get run over if you just sit there."