If you find yourself constantly stressed out, you’ll have to stop whatever you’re doing and take care of it immediately. Stress doesn’t just ruin your day; it can ruin your body and mind in the long term.
Stress destroys a person’s emotional balance and physical wellness. Your thinking is cloudier, your functions get sloppy, and happiness seems far away. It feels impossible to overcome.
But that’s not true at all.
Anybody can learn how to manage their stress levels effectively and break the vice grip that stress has on their lives.
Here are 6 steps you can take to achieve a relatively stress-free life. These routine habits are nourishing for your overall health, and you should do your best to maintain them.
Find Out What’s Causing Your Stress
Find out what exactly is causing your stress. It’s not a simple step either. It’s easy to blame the obvious causes in your life as the source of stress, but there are plenty of minor stress sources that you might not even know is stressing you out.
Major sources of stress, though severely hindering, are at least something you can take action against. Minor sources trick you into believing it’s not worth your time to solve. Start listing everything in your life that is causing you distress. That knowledge will come in handy for the next step.
Avoid Causes of Stress Moving Forward
Once you find out what’s causing your stress, start taking steps to avoid it. If a source of stress is too many jobs or responsibilities, start learning how to say no. Be it professional or personal, knowing your own limits is the first step towards avoiding stress in the future.
Going even further, if there are people in your life you simply cannot deal with at the moment, start to limit your interactions with them. If possible, break off the relationship, but only after a very thorough evaluation of how much you value your interactions with them.
Look around your environment and start removing sources of stress. Is the TV starting to make you feel tired and empty? Turn it off and take a nap instead. Is one of your keyboards at work missing a few keys or your mouse doesn’t feel comfortable? Get it replaced as soon as possible.
If your anxiety happens to be at its peak during your period, start planning around it. Whenever possible, avoid doing anything major on your period. The increased stress during that time may lead you to some dark places.
Stay Active
Stress is often the result of stewing over emotions and responsibilities. Physical activity such as exercise can relieve your stress by a huge amount. Exercise improves both your mental and physical health significantly.
Symptoms of stress such as sick skin, hunched posture, loud mind, and lethargy can be prevented through regular exercise routines.
The exercises don’t even have to be particularly intense. Hobbies such as taking a walk in the park or going swimming help you cope with stress without any pressure of “not doing enough”. Take your time, but whatever you do, stay active.
Talk it Out
A friendly face is one of the best treatments for a stressed-out person. When you share your troubles with a loved one, their support and compassion can help you weather even the worst of stress.
Even if they aren’t with you physically, social media ensures you can stay connected with loved ones no matter where they are. Any support system you have is a strong asset for fighting against the pressure of stress.
A friendly face might even give you more than just support. Some can offer legitimately good advice or even a solution to your problem. In such cases, a loved one could break your stress cycle completely.
Set Aside Time for Some R&R
Besides being reactive to your stress, start being proactive through rest and relaxation. Leisure is not a waste of time, and if you have that mindset, now is the time to drop it. Leisure is not a luxury; it is an obligation.
If you are overworked and underappreciated, leisure is one of the few things to help you stay grounded.
After a stressful day, don’t immediately start complaining about it on social media or to your significant other. Instead, put on a smile then start doing what you want to do first. If you want to read a book you haven’t been able to, go for it.
Start Balancing Your Life
In life, balance is needed to maintain harmony. The same is true for managing your stress levels. Here are a few ways you can start balancing your your life:
· Avoid making commitments you can’t keep, especially near break days
· Start prioritizing the important things. Failing that, the most stressful things.
· Eat a healthy diet with a consistent Cheat Day for something to look forward to
· Trust others with the tasks you need to do, but leave enough for yourself to be engaged
· Avoid vices, but find a new hobby to do when stressed out
· Sleep properly
Stress is a problem that will never go away permanently, but these steps ensure stress fades away quickly and quietly. It may be unavoidable, but that doesn’t mean you can’t lessen its impact.
Words by Katie Pierce and Illustration by Ellora Prior
