Full disclosure - I easily get stressed and most of the time I don’t even realize I’m stressed or what I’m stressing about. I’m not one of those who tends to think constantly about one thing over and over causing me to be stressed. And while a million scenarios play out in my head of different events, I’m not spending all my time dwelling on them. But I stress. I over-commit and then find myself drowning in things to do and commitments I’ve made. And that leads to crazy painful migraines. When I get slammed with a migraine I know I’m stressed and haven’t been dealing with it. Honestly, the last time this happened to me was Christmas Day this year - the migraine lasted 3 days, in which I just laid in bed and cried for it to end.
So over the last 2 years, when I finally realized a lot of these migraines are stress related, I started finding different ways to deal with my stress. Everyone is different and I do think a lot of stress relief has to be a personal journey to know yourself, your triggers, and your coping mechanism, but… here are 8 ways to relieve stress that help me. I hope they help you too.
8 Fool-Proof Ways to Relieve Stress:
#1:: Workout. No seriously, just do it. I know, I know. This one is pretty dumb and obvious. But when I think back to the times when I have had the least migraines in my life, it has been times when I have been training for a marathon. So I’m not saying just workout when the whim hits you. I’m saying workout in a determined, scheduled, uncompromising way. Consider your daily workout the same as sleep or breakfast - something you need and can’t live without. When I started seeing workouts as something that needed to be part of my daily routine, and not just a nice added bonus if the day panned out that way, my stress levels started going down.
#2:: Get Sleep. Consistent Sleep. My roommates make fun of me but I go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Yes, that is supposed to help migraines, but it is also a really great way to ensure that I get in the daily sleep I need to be a functioning, happy human being. Sleep is vital to so many things - there are hundreds of studies that show that. So getting consistent, quality sleep also helps reduce stress levels. When you are well rested you are able to see things more calmly and rationally. I have an alarm that goes off to remind me I need to head to bed soon.
#3:: Ask yourself: What’s the worst that can happen? Can you deal with that? These are two questions I ask myself often when I’m feeling stressed about a certain issue. Often our minds go to the worst possible scenario and play it over and over in our heads, but we don’t take it that step further and ask - could I live with that outcome? The answer is usually yes, it’s not the end of the world. For instance, if I am stressed about something at work… What’s the worst possible scenario? Well, I suppose I could get fired and asked to leave on the spot (so not going to happen but we are looking at the worst outcome for a moment.) And could I live with that?? Well, yeah actually. My world wouldn’t come crashing down if I needed to get another job. No problem.
#4:: Practice the art of ruthless exclusion. This phrase (ruthless exclusion) is the one main takeaway I’m still pondering as a result of Create and Cultivate. It served me well in the second half of 2018 while I debated what I wanted from life and my career, what I could take on and what I needed to let go. It has served me well in choosing which blog opportunities to take on and which to pass on. It has served me well in so many areas of my life. I can’t do it all, and even though I want to, I can’t and I need to be ruthless in excluding things that aren’t serving my purpose or bringing me joy.
#5:: Stick to a schedule. This past year as I hustled to do a million things, with a job description that was constantly morphing, I began to sit down at the start of each day before I even opened the computer or read an email and set a schedule for myself. And I stuck to that schedule as faithfully as possible. Now, as a self-employed gal, that schedule setting is even more important. I need to set parameters for my day and not allow myself to go off on a million little tangents.
#6:: Close your tabs, aka stop multi-tasking. Yes, yes, millenials believe they can multi-task like pros. But the truth is, our brains can’t do that well. Trying to do two, three, four things at once means we do nothing really well, which for those that stress, means we are constantly worried about being able to do more and not doing anything the way we want to. Close the tabs. Focus on one thing at a time. Give yourself the time you need to focus on that one task. Complete it well with all your mental space, and then move on to the next one.
#7:: Cultivate silence. We live in a world that is full of noise. We are constantly surrounded by sounds. We have our headphones in at all times, or the radio permanently on in the car. Every store has music playing. Restaurants have music and TVs going to constantly pull your attention. When we don’t have silence, we don’t have time to think. And when we don’t have time to think, we get overwhelmed and stressed. Shut down. Give yourself time for silence - EVERY DAY. Yes, it’s hard. You’ll want to reach for your phone. You’ll want to have calming music in the background. You’ll want to just send a quick text or scroll through Instagram. But don’t do it. Cultivate silence in your life and you’ll be surprised at how much more peace you have.
#8:: Spend time with others. Often when we get overwhelmed and stressed, we get lost in our own heads. We focus on ourselves and that can be debilitating. Switch the focus - spend time with others. If you can spend time serving others, even better! Make a meal for a friend who just had a baby, or go paint the nails of a few beautiful elders in a nursing home, or go take your niece and nephews or siblings to the park or the zoo. Get outside yourself and get into the lives of others.
How do you relieve stress in your life? Leave a comment and let me know.
