Stress hacks - how to cope with stress
🌱Stress is a mismatch between perceived pressure, and perceived ability to cope
🌱Managing stress therefore involves:
- identifying and reducing external stressors
- improving internal coping ability
🌱If you do one without the other, you will continue to struggle
🌱Stress comes in all shapes and sizes - from major stress such as illness /immediate threats/trauma; to microstress such as phone notifications, family, or just being busy
🌱Identifying external stress is a good first step - think about what situations make you feel stressed, then think of ways you could change these
🌱If you feel overwhelmed, then pick one or two of your biggest stressors, and focus on dealing with these first
🌱Breaking up seemingly huge issues into small steps makes them seem more manageable
🌱Ideas like changing your schedule to reduce time pressure, getting lunches ready in bulk on the weekend, hiring a cleaner, food shopping in bulk /online, or even food boxes can make a huge difference.
🌱Getting out for a walk in your lunch break, active commuting, or fitting in incidental exercise also helps
🌱Screen stress is a big factor - make a time to switch off your phone, turn off notifications for apps/emails, and turn off data /putting phone in flight mode for periods of the day
🌱Building stress resilience is the other vital aspect ie altering how you perceive and manage stress
🌱Identify when /where you feel most relaxed, and trying to make time to do this on a regular basis - the more you do them, the easier it will become,
🌱Exercise, being in nature, sitting quietly, getting adequate sleep, spending time with others, physical touch (ie hugs, massage), music, dance etc all help
🌱Building positive thought patterns is also incredibly effective ie meditation, yoga, deep breathing, gratitude practice
🌱These have a ripple effect, the more you do them the higher your stress resilience becomes
🌱Try doing 5min of meditation or yoga in the morning /evening, gratitude practice or reciting a positive intention on waking
🌱Positive thoughts actually rewire your brain to focus more on these and less on the negative ❤️
22w
Comments