Blog#6

 

Blog #2 What the stress??

Bills, work, school, kids, errands, health, PANDEMIC! Have you ever felt like; "when am I going to catch a break?" "When can I just, catch my breath?" "Can we pause the world?" Or my personal favorite, "When will things get back to normal?" If you have answered yes to any of these, you my friend, are stressed. BUT, there is good news. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Here are some tips and tricks that have helped me conquer the stress demon.The year 2020 has been especially stressful for everyone. We all get stressed at some point in our lives, but this year has been extremely stressful because we added a pandemic in the mix. We live in a fast-paced world that is constantly on the go. With all the responsibilities we have comes with high stress levels, that in return cause decrease in overall health, exhaustion, and just a feeling of overall self-defeat.

Take one thing at a time in a positive manner

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Take one thing at a time! Seriously only ONE thing. Instead of seeing it as something bad try to flip it into something positive. Positivity is key to managing stress. Although it is hard to find the positive when you feel like the world is crashing, it's easier finding the tiniest good in any situation. I promise it will pay off in the long run. If we celebrate the small things, this helps change the mindset of jumping to something negative. If you are a list person like me, this tip will help you by putting the thing that is stressing you out the most at the very top. This is a great way to start breaking things down, that way you can visually see progress, and this will help decrease the sense of feeling overwhelmed. Sometimes visually seeing a list gives a sense of relief, like creating a grocery list for example. You get the item and cross it off the list. Since we live in a tech save world here is a link for some mobile apps for list making. https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-to-do-list-apps

Journal

I know! Weird thing, right? Everyone says journal and you will feel better. You start to think about it, but then that little voice in your head says “why you’re not a writer, that’s weird to talk to yourself, that’s like a diary for kids, what? NO thanks!”  I thought all these things, why would I journal? I am an adult with real problems, how is writing going to help? Well, little did I know it does! When writing in a journal, you can literally vomit on the page of just thoughts, you don’t have to worry about it being perfect, Grammatically correct or if makes any sense. The whole point of writing in a journal is to get it out of your system without verbally saying it out loud. If it is something that you are embarrassed or ashamed of, there is this awesome thing called a shredder, after you’re done writing you can shred it, or if you like to live life on the edge, you can put in the trash and burn it. (please don’t start any wildfires) This also helps with the coping aspect of stress. Whether or not you keep the journal entries to look back and laugh or to burn it. Letting the emotions out on paper will have positive outcomes that will make you feel better because you aren’t bottling up to explode on a husband/wife, work employee, other drivers, ect.

Self-care.

This tip should be so basic and easy right? Just kidding it’s actually the most forgotten and neglected tip, why you ask? Well because we are so into our day to day routines and consumed with taking care of everything and everyone else around us, that it’s easy to come to the conclusion that there isn’t enough time in the day for myself or I can’t do that because X Y and Z. That’s where we need to retrain our brains to prioritize taking a moment out of the day to have that “me time” Self-care can be as simple as Friday nights are dedicated to a bubble bath or drinking a beer and eating hot wings. Going to the gym, doing yoga, taking your dogs or cats for a walk that’s all self-care. Whatever your simple pleasure in life is that helps you relax do it! Everyone needs “me time” it promotes endorphins that make you feel better. Here is a cool diagram of what stress does to the body. Check it out.  https://www.healthline.com/health/stress/effects-on-body#1 There are multiple studies that show how stress negatively effects the human body, not only, our physical health but our mental health as well. Mental health is just as important as physical health. Whatever your vice may be please do it. If you need help please reach out. Find something or someone, it’s okay to feel every feeling you are feeling, and it’s okay to be stressed out, but just know that you aren’t alone, and it’s okay to seek help! Here are a couple links if you are in need.  https://www.mhanational.org/ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/groups/stress/az/phoenix   

Will the stress ever go away? Probably not, but like I stated before, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We got this! These are just a couple tips and tricks that have helped me along the way. I hope that you can use these in your day to day life. Until next time fellow bloggers! 😊