The world is so freakin’ fast! We get so much information, tasks and thoughts during a single day, it’s not a surprise we can be overwhelmed by them easily, which eventually leads to a stressful life.
What is stress?
The best way to describe stress is maybe a longer anxious feeling or constant tension. It mostly appears when we worry about something that’s ahead of us – or the opposite – it already happened and we can’t change how it went.
Stress can have all sorts of negative effects on our body from tiredness and muscle tension all the way to mental symptoms like panic attacks, depression.
I don’t know anyone who never ever had to stare stress in the face in their life at least once, and it’s more common as the world goes forward. We face stress in school or work, we experience it because of social media, we can feel it in the world’s current situation. Let’s be honest, life was not easy for any of us in the last couple of years, so it’s totally understandable that our mental health may need some care.
That’s why today I thought I will share with you some tips and tricks on how to deal with stress in the hope I can make your life a little better.
Enjoy and share in the comments if you have any other suggestions on how to deal with stress or anxiety!
1.Prepare for tomorrow morning the night before
You win the mornings, you win the day. I think most of us can agree that mornings can be one of the most stressful parts of the day. If you can eliminate the major part of morning stress the night before, prepare! Put out your clothes you want to wear, make food, pack your backpack etc.
This way you will allow your morning self to still live in the dream, you don’t have to wake your mind up fully right away, because you don’t need to pay attention or gather your thoughts on what you need to pack, what are you going to eat etc.
2.Plan ahead (but never over do it)
Planning is great, because it automatically keeps you on track. You can predict (in a way) what is going to happen and you prepare for that, so nothing comes as a surprise. Even if it does (there are always some things that are beyond our control) you will be way more relaxed until the time comes, where you have to deal with that thing.
We can plan the future, but since it’s not always going to work that way we have to develop the mindset: “We will deal with it, when we get there.”
Concentrate on the present, because there is no point in guessing the future. You can have a plan for sure, but you need to be flexible with it. You need the skill of adapting into any kind of circumstance. When you trust yourself that you can handle any type of situation, your anxiety will be reduced, so practice trusting in your abilities. You can also develop them so you can rely on them.
3.Write a To-Do list
I often feel stressed or overwhelmed when I get confused in my plans, programs and tasks. When you feel like your head is going in a hundred different directions, that’s when you need to get a blank paper and write down everything on it.
Write down every program and task you need to do with deadlines, or the things you have to do today. Trust me, organizing will lift a lot of weight from your shoulders and you will realize that you actually don’t have to be so worried.
4.Concentrate on the things you can change
As I mentioned before, there are plenty of things in life we can’t take control of. This is how the world works, there are always going to be things out of our reach.
Or maybe you are just stressing over something that you did in the past.
Try to leave both of them behind. You can’t change the past and you can’t predict the future.
I’m so sorry but I have to include a Kung Fu Panda quote here:
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery, but today is a gift, that’s why it’s called present.”
Kung Fu Panda
5.Escape reality a little
The real world is overwhelming, that’s a fact. Escaping it every now and then can be really healthy! Pick up a good book, or watch a series, maybe play some games. We all need a little pause no matter what we are doing, and there is no difference with life.
6.Be kind to someone
Studies have shown that seeing other people happy because of something you had done, will also make you more happy. People say that the world could always use more heroes and it’s the same with kindness.
Just think about it! It’s totally free and you are going to make everyone’s day better. It’s a win-win situation, because someone may need your kindness more than you think, not to mention it will also brighten your mood and help you be more confident in yourself.
7.Write it out!
Journaling is the best way to keep your mental health well. It’s a free activity where no one will judge you, no one will raise expectations and no one will tell you what to do.
When we get stressed or overwhelmed it’s mostly because of the chaos in our life. Journaling is a great way to organize our mind a little. If we have a tidy mind it will be easier to stay calm, because we’ll know what needs to be done.
8.Exercise
What better way is there, then physically letting go of all the stress that hides in us? Exercising will not just help you take your mind off things and enable you to channel your tension into moving, but it will also keep your body fit, which will result in your physical wellbeing.
9.Sleep/Rest
Tiredness is the best friend of stress. If they find each other, they are like annoying children chatting and laughing loudly in the library.
But if you tear them apart with having a good night sleep or just a nap, stress will be left alone with way less fun for him to enjoy. If you get my metaphors.
So these are the nine things you can do to reduce stress, but I also want to give you more. I collected the habits you will need in order to live a more peaceful life.
You know I’m all about habits, and if you are aware that your lifestyle includes stress daily, you should consider adding these habits to your life in order to feel more balanced.
Habits:
-Meditation
-Warm bath
-Go for a walk in the nature
-Journaling
-Listen to music
-Exercise
-Plan tomorrow
-Laugh
-Do something good
-Do a coloring book
-Read
You can add all of them or just some of them to your day and see how it changes your mood.
These are my advices, but I always mention: experiment with what works for you the best. We are all different people, what worked for me, might not do it for you. I just gave you tips where to start, the rest is on you.
Thank you so so much for reading this blog post, I hope helped you a little and don’t forget to share your thoughts if you have anything else to add.
Planning the night before is pretty useful, especially when you tend to meander throughout your day, just bumbling from one thought to another. Great post here. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much! I also find it really useful because I can really win the morning by not stressing about the different things I should be doing.