When you experience high levels of stress, it can take over your mind and body. It can make you feel fatigued, overwhelmed, and insufficient. While I wish I could tell you how to live a stress free life, the reality is that stressful things happen which fall out of our sphere of control. But, you can learn how to better manage and cope with stress. Keep reading for things you can do to feel less stress in your life.
1. Set Realistic Expectations for Yourself
If you have a “Type A” personality, you likely set the bar very high for yourself with an expectation that you reach it every time. And if you don’t reach this bar, it can eat you up alive. To create less stress in your life, start asking yourself if your expectations are realistic and fair. Just because you can do it all, doesn’t mean its good for your mental health.
2. Recognize When You Need Less Stress
Everyone needs to take a break sometimes. Some may associate breaks with laziness or lack of productivity. However, allowing yourself to have downtime can actually be very productive! Your body and mind need opportunities to rest, instead of always being “on.”
Sometimes the perfect response to stress is to limit your commitments, fit some downtime into your schedule, and allow yourself to enjoy it.
3. Practice Mindfulness and Meditation
Practicing mindfulness is an incredible way to ground yourself, and one way to do this is through meditation. Through mindfulness and meditation, you focus on the present moment without judgement or negative thoughts. When you practice mindfulness and meditation, you might experience feelings of stress. However, the purpose of this exercise is to acknowledge this feeling, breathe through it, and allow it to leave your body without judging it.
Personally, I love starting my day off with morning meditation. Taking a few minutes in the morning to ground myself allows me to breathe through any feelings of stress and enter the day with a positive mindset.
4. Practice Gratitude
Practicing gratitude daily can train your mind to focus on the positive. Since stress is a feeling that grows from negative energy, gratitude can help to combat it. If you are feeling stressed, try taking a pause and listing 3 things that you are grateful for. As you list each item, really think about it deeply. Instead of focusing on everything that you are stressed by, you will feel less stress through focusing on the positive things in your life.
5. Feel Less Stress Through Self Care
Stress can stem from a place of feeling like you don’t have enough time. If you re-claim your time to do one thing for yourself every day, it can help lighten this feeling. Whether you treat yourself to healthy takeout, do a face mask, read a book for 15 minutes, or write in a journal for 5 minutes, take some portion of the day to do something nice for yourself.
6. Nourish Your Body
Your body and mind have a strong connection. While “stress relief” snacks typically include candies, chips, and carbs, these actually won’t help your stress levels! Instead, they have a stronger chance of making your stress levels worse.
To feel less stress, try eating foods that are good for your mental health including leafy greens, fruits, salmon (or other foods high in Omega-3), avocados, and nuts.
7. Do Something Fun
When you are feeling stressed, it might not feel like you have the time or energy to go out and do something fun. Meanwhile, taking time to do something fun can help you feel happier and less stressed! There has actually been an association studied between leisure activities and wellbeing! The constant cycle of working then sleeping gets draining, so make an effort to mix in a fun activity that you enjoy from time to time. Whether it’s playing a sport or board game, going to a fun restaurant, taking a dance class, or another hobby you enjoy, it’s important to integrate these moments of fun into your schedule.
8. Prioritize What Helps You Have Less Stress
Stress can be like driving through foggy weather that you can’t see through. When this happens, you might be so focused on getting through the fog that you miss things. Maybe it’s the chance to take a shorter route, maybe it’s someone else offering to drive, maybe it’s a stop for food when you are starving.
When you are stressed, you can miss things too. You may be so focused on your to-do list that you miss out on opportunities to feel less stress. Maybe you are skipping your workout or your journaling, maybe you are burning out from pushing too hard, maybe you are neglecting your close relationships. All of these things can happen when you have this end goal in mind, and you may actually be causing yourself greater stress.
Instead of pushing through your stress time and time again, take a few moments for yourself. Do something that will make you feel less stress, whether it is on this list or a personal healthy habit. With conscious effort to shift your mindset, including battling feelings of stress, you can truly make a change which will begin to come naturally in time.