3 Tips to Reduce Stress in Your Daily Life
By Aurora McCausland
Who doesn’t want to have less stress in their life? Living a stress-free life is an elusive idea that we all simply dream of someday achieving. While an entirely stress free existence may be an impossible pipe dream, living a life with a reduced level of stress is entirely possible. If you find yourself at the end of the day feeling beaten down, overwhelmed, and ready to give up on certain aspects of your life if only it would provide a moment to breathe, then these tips to reduce stress in your daily life are for you!
Have scheduled breaks during the week
This may sound like a redundant solution, but bear with us. Obviously, yes, taking a break from the things stressing you out will help relieve stress in your life. We all know this, but how often do you actually pay attention to this advice? If you’re still feeling constantly stressed out and pushed past your limits, than the answer is probably not very often.
Scheduling breaks for yourself is something that is a lot easier said than done. The first step, is to figure out what is stopping you from taking these necessary breaks. Do you feel like everything will fall apart if you take a break? Are you the glue that is holding things together in your family, workplace, or other area of your life?
The good news, is that the world will be able to function without you for a few hours. It will be hard to step back and let go for a moment, but it’s important. You may even learn that many others around you will be able to learn to step up and compensate during your absence for just a few hours.
What is relaxing and stress reducing to you may not be relaxing to someone else, so figure out what is going to be the most effective use of time for yourself, individually. Do you need a bubble bath with a glass of rose and your favorite book? Make the space the ultimate retreat with some of these ideas. Is your idea of relaxation taking a long hike with your dog? Or maybe you just want to cancel your obligations and allow yourself to sleep in for a few extra hours on a Wednesday morning.
Breathe
Taking scheduled breaks on a weekly basis is important to make sure you can actually function properly. Sometimes, though, you find yourself in a situation during your week, when you feel stressed out and don’t have the opportunity to remove yourself from the situation to de-stress.
This is a part of life, and learning to cope in these situations is an important life skill. Take a moment, and breathe. Just focusing on your breathing will calm you down, giving your brain the oxygen it needs to solve the problem that you find yourself faced with.
There are also breathing exercises that you can participate in, to further calm yourself and reduce stress. Focus on breathing from your abdomen. Breathe in through your nose for four seconds, and then breathe out of your mouth for four seconds. Try blocking one of your nostrils with your finger, and breathing through just one nostril at a time.
Find out what’s stressing you out, and remove them
Sometimes, no matter how badly we want to, we can’t entirely remove the things that are stressing us. If it’s your job, you can’t just quit tomorrow in an attempt to reduce stress in your daily life. An alternative to this situation, is to figure out if there’s a specific aspect of your job that is stressing you out. Is there a big project looming in your future? Is a relationship with a coworker causing strain?
Try and pinpoint the specific reason for the stress, and then work on ways to resolve that situation or issue. This same practice can be applied to any area of your life. Stressed out at home? Figure out why. Find someone to help you with the things that are stressing you, whether that’s tending to your children, cleaning your home. Do some home improvements that will help things be quieter and reduce the stress of management.
Let’s Chat > What are some things that you do to relax and de-stress?
DISCLAIMER
The information in this blog post is provided “AS IS” with no warranties and confers no rights. This blog does not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my employer, it is solely my opinion.
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