I am far from perfect. There are many things that I need to work on in life. I will spare you from the laundry list for now (we’re all a work in progress, right?) but one I want to touch on today is stressing less. Or more specifically – stressing smarter. This kind of covers two ends of the stress spectrum…
- Dealing with the things that are worthy of stressing over by creating a healthy strategy for overcoming the stress.
- Being able to recognize when things are not worthy of stressing over and taking a deep breath and moving on.
I admit that I let things stress me out more than I should and it is something that I have been trying to be more aware of and proactively deal with when I feel it happening. I attribute a lot of this improvement in dealing with stress to my yoga practice. Yoga has taught me how to slow down and tune in to what I’m feeling in my body, heart and mind. I am amazed by the personal growth that I have experienced since finding yoga and I it completely thrills me that I am just at the beginning of my yoga journey.
I really enjoyed reading the comments about how you all deal with stress. I encourage everyone to check them out! Here are some of the ways that I deal with stress.
Create a plan of attack.
I’m busy. My schedule has been really insane for the last few months. When I start to feel out of control, I find it beneficial to stop and plot out how I’m going to accomplish everything. Some ways that I do this is by organizing my schedule in my planner, writing to-do lists and meal planning. I almost always find that if I can clearly see how I’m going to get from point A to point B that I can let go of some of my stress.
Do something about it.
Building on the list making and planning…those are great tools for dealing with stress if you actually act on it. How easy is it to get kind of stuck in place when you get overwhelmed? Make the list and then start crossing things off.
Ask for help.
This has been a tough one because I’m very much the “It’s okay, I’ve got it” type but asking for help when I truly need it has lifted a huge weight off of my shoulders. This has been everything from realizing when I need a break from teaching and asking for a sub to enlisting the help of my husband with meals, running errands and working around the house.
Stop. Breathe.
Sometimes when life feels especially stressful the best thing that I can do is something for myself. It seems crazy to stop blazing forward when there are so many things to be done but I have discovered that there is a point where I simply just cannot keep going. This usually means making my way to my yoga mat. I find that after 90 minutes of sweating, moving and breathing that the things that were stressing me out don’t seem quite as daunting as they did before.
Release. Run.
The first instinct that I have when I need to release energy (positive or negative) is to run. There is something about lacing up my shoes, blasting music and taking off that feels so good. It’s an instant release and it’s almost as if I can feel the stress leaving my body with every step that I take.
Sleep.
Another thing that I need to work on (which is another topic for another day) is getting more sleep. Why is it that when you are exhausted that everything seems ten times worse than it really is? A good night of sleep always leaves me feeling rested, recharged and ready to tackle the tasks I’m facing.
Have fun.
I love having something to look forward to. This can be as simple as a midweek pizza date with Brandon to planning a pedicure after work on a Friday at the end of a long week.
Analyze and move on.
So regarding those things that are not worthy of stressing over…recently a huge focus of mine has been to see when something is not worth my stress and move on. I am in control of my life and my happiness. I am not in control of the actions of others or personally responsible for making everyone else happy.
Laugh…and drink wine.
At the end of the day sometimes things are so ridiculous that all you can really do is laugh, have a glass of wine and hope tomorrow is a better day.
(source)
