How to Manage Stress
Posted on June 10, 2016 by Noreen Butler, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.
How to Manage Stress
Most people throughout their life will generally experience stress at some points in their life. Some people will experience stress more frequently, which ultimately will have an impact on their life and on the people that they interact with.
What causes stress?
Everyone has different stress triggers.. Your stress level will differ based on your personality and how you respond to situations. Some people let everything roll off their back while others may worry themselves sick. Sometimes the stress comes from inside, rather than outside. You can stress yourself out just by worrying about many different things.
What may be causing you stress in your life?
Some primary causes may be:
Being unhappy in your job
Loss of a job
The death of a loved one
Divorce
Increase in financial obligations
Getting married
Moving to a new home
Chronic illness or injury
Taking care of an elderly or sick family member
Traumatic event
Fear and uncertainty
Unrealistic expectations, No one is perfect. If you expect to do everything right all the time, you’re destined to feel stressed when things don’t go as expected.
Change. Any major life change can be stressful — even a happy event like a wedding.
10 Tips to Ease Stress
Use these tips to help keep stress at bay.
Ask yourself what you can do about the sources of your stress. Think through the pros and cons. Take action where you can.
Dance It Out – You may find that going out and having some fun is a great way to relieve some stress. Dancing is a great way to do just that! Personally its one of my favorites. You may also want to consider a fun dance class like Zumba of Jazzercise class etc.
Take a Walk – By moving your body and shifting your focus on your present activity, you mind will naturally shift to other thoughts and your stress levels will decrease.
Talk About It – By allowing your self to share your thoughts and feelings with others, you will release some of the tension you may be experiencing about a particular situation. You also may find you and the person you are speaking with have found some solutions that may help you solve whatever it is that is troubling you
Breathe – When you take a deep breath you will slow down your thoughts and heart rate.
Meditation is a great way to do this. You may want to go check out my meditative video examples under the Inspiration menu. Some people have strange thoughts about meditation and think you have to hum weird sounds etc. This is not true. All you really need to do is go somewhere quiet to relax your mind. If you take the time to relax, breath and rest your eyes and visualize something tranquil, you will help reduce your stress levels.
Go to Bed Earlier/Get More Sleep – The more rest you have, the better you feel and it helps to think more clearly.
Focus on What You Can Control – This is not easy but the truth is when you continuously worry about things you can’t control, all that will happen is you will experience more stress. Try to think of the Serenity Prayer – “God grant me the SERENITY to accept the things I cannot change, the
COURAGE to change the things I can and the WISDOM o know the difference. These are very powerful words to live by.
Reminisce About Old Times – Bringing your mind to happy moments will definitely help reduce your stress levels.
Ask for a Hug – like this one. Asking for support from your family and / or friends is a great way to relieve stress.
Look for Opportunities in Life’s Challenges – Sometimes challenges come into our life for a reason. Try to see the opportunity being presented if you can. There are sometimes important lessons that will benefit you in the long run. An example may be to let go of something including something you are worrying about.
Smile – I love this one too. Sometimes it may seem so hard to do, but smiling is a great natural way to shift your worry thoughts away. When you smile, you brain will naturally shift toward something that makes you happy. It may seem really strange at first but I’ve tried it and it works. Sometimes I actually felt kind of silly and that would make me laugh and then I would realize, that it works!
Sometimes we all need someone to talk to that will truly listen and help you find ways to learn the reasons why you have stress and help you remove these challenges that are in your life so that you can feel more relaxed and fulfilled.
Have a beautiful relaxing, peaceful day!
