Stress is something I witness people struggle with every day of my life. I too, suffer from consistent and extreme pangs of stress and anxiety. Whether it be clinical or circumstantial, the negatives effects of stress carry a heavy toll on your mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing. To start your week off a little more relaxed so you feel prepared to meet the goals set before you with more ease, here are some great methods of stress-management that might aid you in unwinding when things get tense.
1. Mindfulness.
This concept may seem a little difficult to understand and even illegitimate to some, but allow me to explain. Mindfulness is actually an excellent coping technique for any and all kinds of psychological fatigue, and is well known in the psychiatric community. Whenever you are distraught, or panicking about anything in particular, try remembering the bigger picture; will this still cause me stress by next year/month/ week? Will my life be in irreparable shambles, and will all be lost? Or your current state of being - where you are sitting, who you are with, the things around you that might bring you any slight sense of pleasure -even something as small as the softness of a fabric or smoothness of a surface. Anything that you can be mindful of (essentially) that brings you a sense of comfort.
2. Be active, accept the passive
The very first thing most people do under a larger amount of stress is despair. Once that's over - they overreact to the situation they are stressed about. In this sense, I do not mean overreact emotively, (well, that too) but rather literally they take excessive action to fix whatever is wrong. This isn't necessarily bad, as long as you're doing whatever you can to help whatever the problem. What is bad it was follows - the worry. The concern. The over-playing of scenarios in your head ("what if my professor doesn't extend this deadline?","what if my boss fires me for this?","what if_____"). Stop. This does nothing for you. This is what I call "accepting the passive", once you have been active. You must accept your faith, and all possible outcomes, and simply plan for the future if things fall through. Do not allow any further mental digression. Although it is difficult, this can save you a lot of self-inflicted negativity and anxiety when things take a wrong turn if you consciously try.
3. Meditate (not kidding)
Okay, anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge Yoga advocate. But it is truly my most unbiased advice in telling you to give meditation your best shot. It's how I begin every practice, and it has helped me immensely. Most people have a skewed concept of meditation; it does not necessarily have a religious connotation at all (in application). To make things very clear: Meditation is about the focus of your attention, and your sense of presence. Quite literally -the present. Focusing. Your attention. On the present. At first, this seemed dumb to me. I thought, "I'm living in the present all the time, so how is my attention not focused on it anyway?" But throughout your day, how often do you concentrate fully on the way you experience and feel in that specific passing moment? How many times in your life have you done that? Paid attention to your entire being and how you feel mentally and physically in the present. I generally like to begin my meditation by sitting down somewhere quiet and focusing on my breathe. Doing this 20 minutes at the beginning of my day after my coffee has helped me tremendously. It's a very powerful, calming, and gratifying thing to give yourself this kind of time and attention. I give it my word, for what it's worth.
4. Music soothes the worried soul
This one is a no-brainer and purely a reminder: music can help you feel better when you are going through a rough time. If you are frequently anxious (like me) you should really try and take 15 minutes to just chalk up a small playlist for when you need comfort, zen, a pick-me-up, or whatever else you think would make you feel best when you're stressed. There's a reason music-therapy is implemented, it works.
5. Don't drink, eat, or abuse any substance at all
Just don't. Promise you'll probably regret it. Bad idea. Not approved. Chew gum, read a book, call a friend, cry, (or preferably) do anything on this list.
6. Venting is allowed!
Vent to your mom, the wall, a friend, or even yourself. Get out what you want to say, try not to be too rude, and exhaust your points until even you're tired of hearing them. Get what's bothering you out of your system if you can. There's different methods of venting, some is audible, some is physical -like running. Vent your stress out of every pour in your body, the less you bottle, the better. Some people have creative channels of venting, like drawing or painting. As long as you're not hurting anyone or anything, give it a go.
7. Sleep.
I have had breakdowns on many scales due to lack of sleep. I've witnessed too many myself. It also, coincidentally, nearly goes hand in hand that those who get less sleep frequently are more stressed and/or anxious. So rest your mind, body and soul. The best way to avoid stress is to prevent it, and you can drastically decrease your levels of stress by getting a good night's rest or even taking a nap when it's necessary (although they aren't routinely healthy). No one will disagree that getting some more Z's certainly couldn't hurt.
I hope these few tips and reminders will help you out, and if not, that they at least got you thinking about other ways to manage stress in your life. Different methods work for different people, of course. I just shared my favorites here. It's very important that we not allow stress to consume us, as it is one of the many mental and emotional roadblocks that we as people must surpass in our individual pursuits of happiness.
