You've had a long stressful day. Hell, your week rivals the apocalypse and all you want to do is collapse onto the couch with a LARGE glass of wine. You think, maybe I'll throw on a facemask and soak in the tub for a bit. That'll make me feel better.
Yeah it will, but only for a few hours.
Your stressful cycle will continue, and you'll be stuck in the rut of getting frustrated and only giving your body and your mind just a few hours to recuperate before you plunge them back into a hellhole of stress.
Bubble baths and face masks are great, but you and your body deserve more than just quick fixes. There are so many more things you can do to make yourself feel better most of the time rather than sometimes.
Get Your Body In Motion
Add in an activity like yoga or jogging to not only silence your mind but to get your body in motion. They say exercise is a great stress reliever and I am one of those people who believes in that firmly. Give your mind an hour a day to zone out and push out all of the negative things crowding it.
Breathe
This is a small thing you can do to prevent yourself from freaking out completely. When things get a little hairy, just take a second to take deep breaths and cool down before letting it overtake you. I myself struggle with anxiety so I can understand how hard this step can be. You just have to force out all outside noise and just exist in your mind for a moment and breathe in, and out.
Stop Reaching For Junk Food
Binging on soda and pizza when you feel stressed or slightly out of order is not the way to go to make yourself feel better. This is fine once in a while but every time your day goes south, you can't keep feeding yourself garbage. Plan out your meals and eat clean, healthy food. You'll feel a million times better.
Say Something
Keeping things bottled in and combusting later on is not a good way to get negative feelings out of your system. Talk to someone whether it's a friend, family member, or therapist so those feelings don't consume you. Letting it out and only allowing good emotions to fill your mind will increase the quality of your day to day life.
Put Yourself First
This is the most important thing you can do for yourself and your body. If you don't feel up to something or don't feel one-hundred percent. Don't push yourself. Put your mind and your body first. If you need a mental health day, take it. If you need to stay in for the night and take care of yourself, do it.
Life will go on and people will deal. They want you to be at your best just as much as you want to feel like your best. Don't be afraid to cancel plans or ask for an extension.
Running yourself ragged until you feel like you are going to collapse is not a way to live. Take care of yourself. We only get one life and none of us want to spend it feeling like complete crap every second of every day. Take a break. Breathe. And don't continue until you feel like you can handle it and are ready for it.
You and your body are important and it's time you start thinking like that. You'll thank yourself later.
