Amelia,

Stress is a big part of my life as I suffer from a stress disorder. life at times can be very stressful for me,well most of the time. The way that I deal with stress is I go to a place that is peaceful for me the ocean is the best place for me, or I meditate in a quite place. I listen to music like yanni for relaxation. these are things that I use quite a bit for me to have less stress in my life, (which mine is made up from a not so good relationship, not enough money coming in ,ect.

Relationships are hard to deal with when it comes to seperation, they are harder to deal with than death itself. I have learned that its going to take time for both parties to heal. Life does go on, but that is an easy thing to say than do.

I also go to group therapy for stress management, that might be another option for him. I know that It works great for me.

I think that we are all stressed , and that there are some like myself that can not handle stress and needs help with that or there are the ones that keep it to them self and then only ends up in disaster. I am not going to tell you or him as to what to do, only suggest what works for me. Sometimes it works but then sometimes it doesnt and then i can only take baby steps to handle stress, but I do get through it. For me, I try to find something that makes me relaxed and do whatever I can do to get to the relaxed state to handle stress. Drugs and Drink are no way to handle stress, that is only a tempoary fix, then once sober you have to come back to reality.

It sounds as though your friend has alot going on right now, and doesnt know how to handle the stress that he is going through, the only thing that i can suggest for everyone is to let him know that you are there for him and that you will give him the space that he needs, and not to stress him out in anyway. I know that when i get stressed, I dont want to deal with anyone or anything and that I just want to hide, I know that isnt the situation, but I do know that people that I can talk to when I am ready,,, my suggestion is to do a reality check every now and then to see how he is doing, and that you care and are there for him when he is needing help.

Just be patient with him and he will come around, it sounds as though he needs some time to himself to sort out alot of issues that he is going through now and the way it sounds its alot. Everyone deals with stress in their own way and others think that being around them trying to help , he may not think that you are trying to help, just adding more stress. As I stated the best advice that I can give is to let him know that you are there for him and that if he needs to talk or to vent or whatever he needs to do, that you and his friends will be able to see him through this stressful time in his life.

There are lots of ways to understand stress, you yourself can do a google search  for stress management or stress and maybe be able to give him some added support, or you might be able to give him some info (paper) for him to read about stress. Just keep an eye on him at a distance to make sure that he is alright.

I hope this helps and I wish everyone good luck in this situation.

Take Care

Steven