Tools & Tips To Improve Yourself
12 Secrets of Managing Stress
There is no way to get around it, but life involves stress sometimes. There is good stress and bad stress. For example, if you’re planning a massive event for your business that’s good stress, if your child gets the flu the night of your work party, that’s bad stress.
Both types of stress can cause issues in your health and mental state without even realizing it. There are ways to manage stress and mitigate it, so it’s not as likely to affect things negatively.
1. Think Positively – Learning how to turn negative thoughts into positive ones can cut down on your stress in a big way. It might seem trite, but if you can train your mind to focus on the positives of most situations, you will almost immediately cut down on stress. When you feel yourself thinking negatively, stop yourself, look around, take a deep breath, and think of three things you’re grateful for right now. Plus, smile and your body chemistry will change too.
2. Understand What’s Out of Your Control – The fact is, sometimes stuff happens, and you just don’t have control over it and never did and never will. For example, you can never control anyone else’s feelings or actions. They just are what they are.
3. Understand What’s in Your Control – The main thing you can control is everything about yourself. You can manage your thoughts, emotions, and actions. Even if you have allowed yourself to act without thinking, you can change that now. Just because you have a thought or feeling doesn’t mean you need to act.
4. Practice Meditation – Learning how to meditate can help you overcome stress as well as manage it in your life as it occurs. Learn about meditation and do it every single day, no matter what else is going on. Even if you’re not stressed now, meditating will help you avoid stress.
5. Exercise Regularly – Staying healthy through regular exercise also helps you deal with stress. You should plan at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity each week. That really isn’t that much, and it will pay off over your entire life, keeping you much healthier.
6. Eat Healthily and Stay Hydrated – You can’t do the right thing if you’re undernourished and dehydrated. Most people are walking around dehydrated and malnourished because of drinking soda and eating fast food. Try eating healthy food that is void of processed ingredients and drinking fresh filtered water.
7. Stay Up to Date on Medical Care – Go to the doctor and dentist regularly. Preventive healthcare can save you time, money, and stress. Plus, there are some stress symptoms like heart palpitations that can be caused by medical issues such as low iron, for example.
8. Learn Time Management – Learning how to manage your time and compartmentalize your life is essential to helping you manage stress. This, more than almost anything else, is going to be the primary key to having enough time to get the things done that will get you closer to your goals in life.
9. Set Appropriate Boundaries – You own yourself and your own time. No one else does. Not your spouse, not your kids, not your boss, not your business. You. It’s up to you to learn how to say no and when to say no to ensure that you don’t bite off more than you can chew, causing more stress.
10. Make Time for Fun – As they say, all work and no play make you stressed. Use your time management skills to schedule in time for fun and relaxation. Take your vacations, take your personal time off, read a book, play a game with your kids, go on a date with your spouse. These are all essential things for every human to do.
11. Sleep Enough – Getting enough sleep every night is essential to lowering your stress. Not sleeping at least 7 to 9 hours each evening can cause hormones like cortisol to spike in your body, causing you to feel more stress as well as put on weight.
12. Avoid Using Substances to Change Your Mood – It’s not that you should never have fun with a drink or anything, but it’s imperative that you don’t use substances to alter your mood when it’s not what you desire. If you’re stressed, it’s not the right time to have that glass of wine.
There really isn’t a secret to managing stress. It’s apparent. Take care of yourself, learn how to say no, and keep a good schedule so that the things at least under your control are as stress-free as possible.
