You know what it feels like to be stressed. You may have experienced the rapid heartbeat, tense muscles, and sleepless nights that are often brought on by stress. What causes you to experience so much stress, though?

One thing that may stress you out is financial worries. You may worry that you will not be able to pay your bills. You imagine waking up one morning to no water or electricity. You imagine trying to fix meals without access to a microwave oven or a stove. You try to imagine an evening without television. You get scared. You then work overtime, trying to get extra money in order to avoid this situation. If you cannot get overtime, you hold a garage sale or sell items online, trying to raise money to cover your expenses.

Another thing that may cause you to experience stress is traffic. You might be on your way to a job interview, for example, when you notice that the traffic is especially heavy. This is the interview of a lifetime. You are interviewing for your dream job. You worry that you will be late. If you get stuck at a red light, you think to yourself, "Come on, light, change!" The light is not human, of course. It cannot hear you. It does eventually change from red to green, however, and you go on your way. Traffic tends to be heavy at certain times of the day, like morning, lunchtime, after school, and evening. Avoid being late by planning ahead. That way, if you are on your way to an interview and you do get stuck in traffic, you will have plenty of time to get there.

Stress is a part of life. It is unavoidable. You are going to experience stress, so you need to learn to manage it. You can effectively manage stress by exercising and spending time with others. Exercising gives you a way to work off the stress. Spending time with others gives you people to talk with about what is bothering you. It is bad to keep things to yourself. When you do, the stress tends to eat at you. This can lead to problems, such as ulcers or heart trouble. When you talk with others about what is bothering you, they can help you to put your stress into perspective so that it can be more manageable. When they share their situations with you, you may learn that their problems are far worse than yours. That may help you to feel better. You and your friends can then work together to cope with stress.