Stress is a part of our lives and it is good to be able to manage it when it happens. Managing stress is all about taking charge of your thoughts, emotions, schedule, and the way you deal with problems.
Here is a list of ways to help you reduce stress.
- Getting up fifteen minutes earlier in the morning: Rather than rush around every morning which can be a tiring activity, waking up early gives you more time to prepare and lets you be timely. And waking up some minutes earlier than your usual time makes the morning mishaps be less stressful. Be it traffic or a minor accident which is so common with commuters working in the city.
- Prepare for the morning the evening before: Lay out the clothes you plan to wear and set the breakfast table, a productive morning is usually the fruit of planning and preparation. And it begins the night before.
- Don’t rely on your memory: Write down your work plan, appointment times and schedule. When you write down your schedule/plans for the day you automatically focus your full attention on them. Often we get caught up in our everyday business and lose track of what is most important. Writing down helps you keep focus on the important urgent things.
“The palest ink is better than the most retentive memory” -Chinese proverb
- Don’t do anything you have to lie about later: Lying is so much work and you have to come up with a story for your lie every time, be transparent with what you do. Save yourself a ton of explanations you have to give every time a mess you made comes up by being honest even when you know it might hurt you.
- Make copies of all keys: The last thing you want is to find out you forgot your house keys after driving for hours back home forcing you to look for unlocked windows, pick the lock or try to break into you own house. Hide an extra house key in a secret spot in the garden or flower bed and always carry a duplicate car key in your wallet.
- Practice preventative maintenance: Do not follow the “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” rule. Cars, appliances and relationships break at the worst possible moments, preventative maintenance assures the efficiency. They also take less time to complete than emergency repairs and replacements.
- Be prepared to wait: Find an interesting way to make a long wait at the post office or at the bank worthwhile. Have with you a novel you like and before you know you are next in line and you don’t want to let go of the book. Plus, reading is fun.
- Procrastination is stressful, it shows that you have a weak discipline, and that you can’t control yourself as well as you’d want to. Whatever you want to do tomorrow do it today and whatever you want to do today, do it now. You can lose opportunities and precious time.
- Plan ahead: Don’t wait for the last minute to start rushing up and down trying to solve issues. If it is house shopping, learn to budget in advance to avoid running out of everything all at once. Don’t wait for a blackout to remind you to cover the electricity bill.
- Allow 15 minutes of extra time to get to appointments: It’s your responsibility to arrive at the airport with enough time to complete all ticketing, baggage check and security clearance procedures to arrive at the gate ready to board.
- Eliminate the amount of caffeine in your diet. Coffee, cocoa and energy drinks are very refreshing for someone that is tired but also contain neuro-stimulators that are proven to heighten stress. Stress makes you anxious, further stimulation can heighten this anxiety and even cause insomnia.
- Always set up contingency plans. Anticipate risk. In case we get split up where should we meet? This is like having a plan B, a fall back plan if the other doesn’t work.
- Relax your standards: Just like Rome wasn’t built in a day, you cannot be successful in a day. Understand that the world will not end if you fail. Expect to fall so as to get back up stronger.
- Ask questions, Taking a few moment to repeat the directions to a place you’re going to can save you from making errors.
- Say no to extra projects, social activities and invitations you don’t have time and energy for.
- Unplug your phone: When you want to take a long bath, meditate, sleep or read without interruption disconnecting from the internet, texting, calls and all other sideshows goes a long way.
- Turn needs into preferences. Don’t get attached to preferences, deal with important needs like food, water and keeping warm first while the rest follow in order of importance. Learn to ask yourself ‘Do I really need this?’
- Take many stretch breaks when you sit a lot, during periods of inactivity, our muscles become more susceptible to fatigue. Stretching after periods of sitting increases circulation through the muscles, delivers much needed oxygen easing muscle pain and stiffness.
- If you can’t find a quiet place at home, wear earplugs. Noise can be very distracting either during your sleep time or work time, try to avoid it as much as possible.
- Get enough sleep. Set your alarm for bedtime. Lack of sleep will throw your system off balance.
- Organize! Arrange everything in its right place, it become so stressful to find things that are hidden under a pile of disorganized books or clothes at home, neatness makes work easier since you can locate stuff you need faster.
- Monitor your body for stress signs. Sallow skin, puffy eyes, constant headaches and forgetfulness can be caused by stress.
- Write your thoughts and feelings down on paper. Writing about stressful events helps you come to terms with them, thus reducing the impact of these stressors on your physical health. Taking a few minutes to jot down your thoughts and emotions will quickly get you in touch with your internal world.
- Try some light yoga. Inhale through your nose to the count of eight, pucker your lips and exhale slowly to the count of sixteen. Concentrate on the long sighing sound and feel the tension dissolve. Repeat ten times.
- Visualize success before any experience you fear, helps to build confidence thus overcoming the later.
- If the stress of deadlines gets in the way of doing a job, use diversion. Get your mind of work for a while then come back with a refreshed mind.