Stress management - what do you do?
ugh…. stress management…. not my strongest point. I tend to be a worrier, unfortunately. It’s getting better because,well, first step: I’ve realized that it IS a problem-thanks for the wakeup call ALL OF LAST YEAR-and I am actively working on it every day, but jeez louise, even if my mind says you’ve got a handle on it, my body says uh uh uh you are internally freaking out. Sometimes I don’t even realize that I’m stressing out until I’ve realized I haven’t taken a good breath for the past 15 min or - all of a sudden, for no good reason, my stomach starts going crazy on me. Thankfully, I am finding wonderful ways to help manage it and become more mindful.
Here’s are 10 tips that help me:
1) yoga/pilates - instead of doing a high energy intense workout, I’ve switched to something that soothes my mind and works my body, giving my whole self more energy
2) get some fresh air. Honestly. I live in an area where your feet are your wheels, unless you want to wait forever for a public bus. So even when I’m just quick running across the street to grab something from the grocer, I find my mood picks up and I feel a little “lighter”.
3) read. Read something that inspires you - not some drama or murder story that has you on the edge of the seat - those are great for fun - not stress management. I’m currently reading a book called Buddhism for Mothers and I noticed a difference in myself right away.
4) be in the moment. I understand that we all have pasts and futures to think about. Like the wise saying goes You can’t change it. Don’t worry about the future, prepare and let it go. All you really have is this moment. Right now. Be a part of that.
5) breath. When anxiety starts to come - stop, take a moment and just take a few deep breaths in and out. That’s all. When my children were toddlers and in the middle of or about to begin a tantrum (yes you can tell when they’re coming) I told them to take a deep breath. It worked every.single.time.
6) laugh. Even if it’s about something completely ridiculous. I don’t know about you, but somewhere along the way of this crazy ride, I started to take life way too seriously. Just laugh. If it means turning on some silly cartoon or videos on youtube, throwing on music and dancing a goofy dance with your family or by yourself, or whatever - just laugh.
7) and this is a big one for me - do something that you used to love when you were younger. Were you obsessed with building model airplanes? Do it again. Were you one that would draw anywhere anytime just for fun? Do it again. For me, it was cooking, but especially baking. If you’ve read my previous posts, I’ve obviously picked that back up and it’s like therapy to me. I can’t believe I had stopped. So whatever it was, do it again.
8) take an extra 5 minutes in the shower, just because it feels good.
9) journal - take time to reflect and learn about yourself. You might notice a pattern or trait that could help you deter stress or anxiety
10) VERY important - ask yourself some good quality questions about whatever the issue, or you think, the issue is. Maybe you just need to eat something. Maybe it’s just that time of day, your blood sugar’s down and so EVERYthing and EVERYone is bothering you. Or if there is an issue, how important is what you’re worrying about REALLY? Maybe it’s not as important as you had originally made it out to be. If it is, is there anything you can do about it? If there is, what steps are you going to take and when. Set a deadline. When there is nothing else you can do, you need to let it go and be ok with whatever the results are, because there is nothing else you can do to change it. As the quote on my cup says, that my very dear friend gave me, ”Life isn’t about waiting out the storms, it’s about learning to dance in the rain”.
So there’s a few of the things that help me. What do you do to manage stress and anxiety?
Oh, and here’s a list of things you should STOP doing:
~Worry will not strip tomorrow of it’s burdens. It will only strip today of it’s joy~
