Stress: One Way to Look At It
Ask yourself this: Am I stressed more often than not because of work or family? If so, how am I dealing with it?
Life can get overwhelming both at work and in the household, whether it be how you manage your kids or how you hurdle over obstacles in your business. A lot of us know very well what stress is, and we can all agree that it’s not something we want in our lives on a regular basis- if not at all.
But what we might not understand is how stress works, and how we can approach it.
How light is your phone? It’s not as heavy as an engine block or weights. You can casually walk around with your phone in your pocket, and easily hold it during phone calls or when scrolling through social media. You can confidently say that your phone isn’t heavy, and holding onto it doesn’t bother you one bit.
But what if you hold your phone up for a week straight? Your entire arm’s gonna go NUMB if you even try to do that. Your shoulder’s gonna hurt like hell, and you probably won’t be able to lift it for the next few days once it finally gives out. The same goes for most things. Small things you can keep in your pocket aren’t usually a problem until you hold onto them for too long.
Just like small things, holding onto even the slightest bit of stress for way too long can eventually exhaust you. Luckily, the solution for it is pretty much the same as how you’d avoid getting arm cramps. Just let go. Doesn’t have to be all of your problems, or the most important ones. Sometimes, the small problems that you haven’t addressed contribute to the general exhaustion that you feel.
When you deal with the smaller problems and clear out the workload you’re working on, you’ll feel that there’s a lot more energy for you to focus.
5 Tips to Help You Handle Stress
Here are 5 other ways you can deal with your stress and get a clearer mind:
- Deep Breaths – Stopping what you’re doing to take a few deep breaths every now and then can really ease a lot of the pent up pressure on your mind. Try sitting in a comfortable position (hands on your lap, and feet on the floor.) Then close your eyes, picture yourself in the middle of somewhere relaxing like a beach or a field of grass. Gently take deep breats for 5 or 10 minutes at a time. This small trick can help slow things down for you and give your mind more room for solutions.
- Get Rid of Triggers – Try to find out the biggest sources of stress in your life. Maybe it’s that one creaky door in the house, or a faulty showerhead you haven’t fixed in a while. Once you figure out the triggers that contribute to your overall stress, you can start by trying to eliminate or at least reduce them.
- Create a “Stress Journal” – When you write on a journal, you usually write down how your day went. With a Stress Journal, you can try writing down every time you realize that you’re stressed. This can also help seek out what it is exactly that stresses you out. Who knows, you might find a few things that you never expected could even stress you out!
- Talk About Your Problems – Even if you’re confident in your problem-solving skills, it always helps to talk to someone you trust about your problems and the things which stress you out. Talking to others allows you to check yourself and find out the problems that stress you out the most, and also gives others the chance of introducing potentially new ways to solve your problems. They might surprise you with a solution you never thought of before! It’s also helpful to give yourself positive self-talk to boost your mindset and focus on the better outcome that you can work towards.
- Breaks and Meditations – Set aside some alone time so you can focus on taking breaks and meditating. If you’re someone who just loves to be busy all the time or stay productive, taking these breaks might be a little harder for you. But once you get the hang of it, you’ll start looking forward to restful things that help enlighten your mind and relieve the body. Yoga, Tai Chi, Guided Meditation, or even listening to your favorite music can be therapeutic enough to recharge you.
There you have it! These methods could be your next go-to strategy when things get a little too stressful around you. I hope that you found value in this article, and that you found the small bits of knowledge and advice inside of it helpful!