Stress is a normal part of life, but in today’s hectic world, various small stressors can add up to an overwhelming situation. As many of us juggle our careers, families, and sociocultural pressures such as rising costs, it becomes harder to manage that “normal” stress.
In addition, our culture tends to emphasize and reward fast-paced lifestyles. This may lead you to accept more stress in your life.
Chronic stress is unhealthy and can be detrimental to your goals and passions. Unfortunately, it’s rarely as simple as “don’t be so stressed!” Here are some ways to manage your stress levels and cope with life’s hurdles in a healthy way.
Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness is derived from ancient practices to help you balance your mind and body. Many people find it helpful in relieving stress because unlike meditation, which asks you to empty your mind, mindfulness simply invites you to observe and acknowledge your experience.
It’s easy to practice mindfulness: focus your attention on the present moment and accept your thoughts and feelings without judgment. This is surprisingly effective in stressful moments, because you allow yourself to respond to the stress without adding more.
For example, many people stress about important meetings or presentations. When you begin to worry about those, you may develop secondary stressors: will my nerves make me fumble my speech? What if I embarrass my boss?
Mindfulness is the art of accepting that life is stressful, acknowledging those feelings, and moving on to the task at hand.
Identify Your Triggers
Once you begin practicing mindfulness, you’ll be able to see what makes you feel most stressed. Knowing your frequent triggers allows you to manage them — and therefore, mitigate their effects on your stress levels.
Pay attention to what causes you to feel stressed and work on managing those triggers. This could involve avoiding certain situations or finding a new solution to them. For example, you may feel stressed about sitting down to pay bills. Could setting those bills on auto-pay give you an easier way to rest assured they’re paid?
Take Breaks
One side effect of our fast-paced modern society is that many of us feel guilty about downtime. We believe we’re supposed to work with minimal breaks for 8 hours. Unfortunately, our brains just aren’t wired that way. And when we force them to perform intensive tasks for so long, we risk burnout — which makes us that much more stressed and less able to complete our tasks.
Experts recommend that you focus no more than 45-60 minutes at a time. Then, take at least a 5-minute break. It can also help to space out your most intensive tasks. For example, if you need to brainstorm a project for work or school, take some time for routine email-checking or housekeeping before diving back in.
This can help reduce your overall feeling of stress by allowing your brain to function at its optimal level. Don’t forget to take a few deep breaths during your break!
Make Time for Self Care
Engage in activities that help you relax and recharge, such as exercise, hobbies, or spending time with loved ones. Think of your brain and body as a single glass. The more you pour out, the emptier you will feel. You must refill the glass to resume your work, school, and other “normal-stress” activities.
It can be tempting to skip self-care when you have a lot to do. But that only compounds your feelings of stress. When you feel especially overwhelmed, it’s even more important to “refill your glass.” Try going for a walk, listening to your favorite songs, doodling, stretching, or chatting with a friend, if only for a few moments.
Rethink Your To-Do List
In today’s society, we tend to think “more is better.” That, along with the pressure to be high achievers, encourages many of us to stack our plates as high as possible. This often leads to overwhelm as it’s simply not possible to do everything we want to do.
To reduce your stress, you must (a) set a reasonable to-do list for each day and (b) feel accomplished. Be realistic about what you can accomplish in a day and adjust your expectations accordingly.
It also helps to prioritize tasks: divide them into important and unimportant, urgent and non-urgent tasks. This helps you see where your energy is best directed. When you can get “in the zone” with your most important tasks, you’re less likely to stress about the insignificant ones.
Also, focus on one task at a time. Multitasking is inherently stressful. It may seem like you’ll resolve your stressors sooner, but that’s rarely the case. If you need to, turn off distracting devices or apps while working on your tasks.
Wrapping Up
Stress is a normal part of life, but it’s important to manage it effectively. This can help you avoid burnout and other negative effects, as well as perform better in work, school, and hobbies.
Everyone copes with stress differently, so it’s important to find what works best for you. Remember, you’re not required to deal with chronic stress. Even busy people deserve downtime.
Want to help your workplace cut down on stress? Book a Stress Management session with one of our workplace wellness partners.