Spend Time With Friends And Family
Social support from friends and family can help you get through stressful times.
Being part of a friend network gives you a sense of belonging and self-worth, which can help you in tough times.
One study found that for women in particular, spending time with friends and children helps release oxytocin, a natural stress reliever. This effect is called tend and befriend, and is the opposite of the fight-or-flight response .
Keep in mind that both men and women benefit from friendship.
Another study found that men and women with the fewest social connections were more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety .
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Having strong social ties may help you get through stressful times and lower your risk of anxiety.
Its hard to feel anxious when youre laughing. Its good for your health, and there are a few ways it may help relieve stress:
- Relieving your stress response.
- Relieving tension by relaxing your muscles.
In the long term, laughter can also help improve your immune system and mood.
A study among people with cancer found that people in the laughter intervention group experienced more stress relief than those who were simply distracted (
Try watching a funny TV show or hanging out with friends who make you laugh.
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Find the humor in everyday life, spend time with funny friends or watch a comedy show to help relieve stress.
Not all stressors are within your control, but some are.
One way to do this may be to say no more often.
Get Really Specific With The Numbers
What are your business goals? Get really specific with them. Dont just ask for more opportunities or more clients. Youll likely end up with a mess of spammy emails in your inbox or clients who have low budgets.
You want ideal high-paying clients who align with your values. You want opportunities to work with brands that you love and that compensate you well for your contribution.
Be specific!
You wouldnt ask your parents to loan you money for your business without telling them the exact number. You wouldnt ask your boss for a raise without quoting him a new salary.
Why are you asking the universe to make you rich without being specific with the numbers?
*LIGHTBULB*
Start repeating these numbers over and over to yourself every day. Get REALLY specific with your money mantras and dont be afraid to invest in yourself.
How Do I Stop Worrying About The Past
The past can be our worst enemy. We grow as people and learn, and we regret what weve did in the past or what others have done to you. Theres a chance youre stronger by miles compared to your past, yet youre still focused on the past. Learning to change the channel of your thoughts and think about the present more is difficult, but it is possible. Here are some ways.
Overall, its important to acknowledge that your thoughts are in the past, but you need to find ways to return to the present.
Also Check: What Illnesses Does Stress Cause
Stress From Tier One: Total Control
The aspects of your life you have total control over can lead to stress in a few ways:
- First, they require self-discipline to complete. If you are not self-disciplined, this can lead to stress because you arent able to get the things done you need to.
- Second, even if you have self-discipline, they still require mental effort and/or physical energy .
- Third, despite having the power to direct your life in these areas, you may not have a clear idea of what specifically you need to do to .
Reduce A Worrys Power Over You
One very effective way to reduce a worrys power over you is by getting the negative thoughts out of your head and on to paper. Being able to see the worry in black and white helps give you more perspective.
Study your worries by keeping a Worry Diary.
Write down what you fear might happen and then later write down if what you were worried about actually happened, whether it was as bad as you expected, and what you did to cope with the situation.
This will help you understand your worries better, distinguish between worries that are useful and those that are useless, and help you realize that you can cope no matter what happens.
- Set aside some time during the day to worry your worry time. Select a time every day that is convenient for you and pick a suitable amount of time to worry . Use this time to think about your worries and about possible resolutions. It can be helpful to write things down. It will take time to train yourself not to dwell on worries at other times of the day or night.
- Practice is key here. What you can do if you worry outside of the set aside time is to write the worry down and put it in a worry box . Then, when its your official worry time, you can look at your worries and deal with them appropriately.
I hope you find these 6 tips useful. If you would like to read more about ways to overcome anxiety and worrying please take a look at my free booklet.
When clients first come in to see me, the main concerns that come up again and again are:
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Critical Stop Stressing Tactic: Think About How This Will Make A Great Story
Other than the most terrible tragedies, Ive found that almost everything challenging in my life, eventually turns into a great story.
Traumas from childhood, my wifes mental health issues, broken bones. With enough time, almost all of them have shifted from things which are difficult to interesting stories.
And with the little things, it doesnt take much time at all.
Sometimes I even try to think of the stories I am going to tell people in the moment when things are happening. It can really help put a different spin on things and reduce stress.
Its certainly not always possible, but when you can, turning the difficult challenges into stories can make things a little easier.
Dont Be Afraid To Ask For Help
Occasionally our brains are too big for our bodies and there is not enough time in the day to complete all the tasks you have set yourself up to do. Our family, friends, and coworkers are not likely to leave you in the lurch if you say you need help. It does not mean you have failed, or that you are insufficient. Your resources will increase your resistance. Feeling stressed out can make your brain foggy and the situations can seem too confusing which can make it difficult to ask for help for something even you dont understand fully. Your peers can help you even by just listening. Saying things out old can sometimes help things fall into place in your head, or maybe your friends and family can understand your problem because they are not clouded by emotions. Just reach out to those around you, you might be pleasantly surprised at how willing your loved ones and even co-workers might be to assist.
Read Also: What Essential Oils Help With Stress And Anxiety
Critical Stop Stressing Tactic: Know When To Cut Your Losses
Lets say you cant stop stressing out over a business venture that isnt going well.
It very well may be that you should find a way to keep plugging away, and that things will improve with time. But it also could be time to move on and try something different.
Its impossible to say what you should do to in your own circumstance. And 90% of the time I favor persistence.
But there are circumstances where quitting can be a great thing, and will free you up for new opportunities.
How To Stop Stressing Yourself Out
Heres your bit of trivia knowledge for the day. The term stress was first used for something you feel by Dr. Hans Seyle in the 1930s, describing the physiological responses in the body in situations that people judged to be stress-ful. At a conference he attended nearer the end of his career, an audience member asked him how they could eliminate stress. If anyone tells you they can eliminate your stress, run, he replied. What they are really saying is that they want to kill you. The absence of stress is not health, its death.
Indeed the reality is that stress is not a medical condition, but a psychological one that triggers physiological responses in the body. Yet how many times you heard yourself or others say things like
I had a stressful day.
Youre stressing me out.
My boss keeps giving me stress.
My job is so stressful.
Psychologists believe that our stress levels are directly linked to the extent to which we assess our resources are being threatened or depleted and will become insufficient to meet a threatreal or perceived. In other words, its not that any particular person, event or circumstance is in itself stressful, but rather the assessment we make as to our ability to cope with that event. Its how we process or interpret that event that gives rise to feelings of anxiety or fear, which, in turn, produces a physiological change in our body This, in turn, is what we label as stress.
Stress itself is not your enemy. Stressful thinking is.
Also Check: How To Manage My Stress
Come Up With A Final Decision During The Predetermined Revisit Time
Be sure to set a time limit on this revisit time. It can be whatever you think is appropriate to arrive at a good decision. For instance, some problems require a revisit time of only 10 to 15 minutes. Others might take an hour or so. Others might require an entire day.
Whatever the problem, set an appropriate time limit to arrive at a final decision. Then, its your goal to come up with a final decision during this predetermined revisit time.
Tips To Manage Stress
We all have stress at work, at home and on the road. Sometimes we can feel especially stressed because of a bad interaction with someone, too much work or everyday hassles like getting stuck in traffic.
Chronic stress can keep you from feeling and performing your best mentally, physically and emotionally. But no ones life is completely stress-free. Its important to know how to manage the stress in your life. These three simple techniques will help you deal with stress.
Read Also: How To Breathe To Reduce Stress
What Can We Control
It’s important that you focus on what you can control. Without getting too deep about freewill and whatnot, here are a few things that you’re able to control.
- Your mindset. While there are some aspects of your personality you cannot change, you can train your brain to be more mindful, empathetic, and open to new ideas.
- To an extent, your health. You can choose to eat right and exercise. Certain life circumstances can make this easier or harder, but for the most part, it can be done in the end.
- Your skills. You can learn new skills for a job and go on a journey to the career of your dreams.
- Your thoughts. Using mindfulness or cognitive behavioral therapy, you can learn how to acknowledge that your thoughts are there and not let them control your life.
- Who you choose to associate with. While you can’t control your family, you can control your friends and who you decide to talk to.
What Is Overthinking Disorder
Overthinking is not a disorder, but instead tends to be a part of anxiety disorder. People who overthink may pick through their worrying thoughts with a fine-toothed comb, using all they can to worry and over-analyze their thoughts. While critically thinking about your life is important, overthinking tends to involve making a mountain out of a molehill, and it’s important to learn ways to stop worrying and overthinking if you want to have peace of mind.
Recommended Reading: Can Emotional Stress Cause Migraines
Worried About Family Drama At Your Wedding
Does family drama have you racking your brain about your wedding, wondering why you cant just elope? ) Dont let it get you down.
Remember, your wedding should be a celebration about you and your future spouse as a couple not anyone elses drama! This is where your Maid of Honor or a bridesmaid will really be helpful as a support system for you: clue them in on the drama that has you anxious and have them combat it, or have them talk to you about it, or ask them if you can vent a bit. Just having someone to talk to can deflect the stress that can accompany wedding planning or the big day itself so that support is definitely tantamount to have in place.
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If someone is driving you crazy about your wedding planning, take the helpful tips but dont feel pressure to do everything or anything presented. If your mother-in-law thinks you should wear a wedding dress with long sleeves, but you dont want to wear a long-sleeve wedding dress, what do you do? Wear the dress you want! You do you!
If your mom thinks you should definitely wear a veil but you arent going to wear a veil, what do you do? DONT wear a veil.
But if your mother in law thinks you should consider inviting your great aunt, even though youve never really met, invite her.
And if your mom thinks you should check out the venue she heard about, go check it out together.
And dont you forget it.
Tip : Practice Mindfulness
Worrying is usually focused on the futureon what might happen and what youll do about itor on the past, rehashing the things youve said or done. The centuries-old practice of mindfulness can help you break free of your worries by bringing your attention back to the present. This strategy is based on observing your worries and then letting them go, helping you identify where your thinking is causing problems and getting in touch with your emotions.
Acknowledge and observe your worries. Dont try to ignore, fight, or control them like you usually would. Instead, simply observe them as if from an outsiders perspective, without reacting or judging.
Let your worries go. Notice that when you dont try to control the anxious thoughts that pop up, they soon pass, like clouds moving across the sky. Its only when you engage your worries that you get stuck.
Stay focused on the present. Pay attention to the way your body feels, the rhythm of your breathing, your ever-changing emotions, and the thoughts that drift across your mind. If you find yourself getting stuck on a particular thought, bring your attention back to the present moment.
Basic mindfulness meditation
Click here for a free mindful breathing meditation.
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Who Are The Worriers
Why are some people so prone to what if disease, while others merely worry about something when it happens?
There are several reasons, explains Robert L. Leahy, PhD, the author of The Worry Cure: 7 Steps to Stop Worry From Stopping You and the director of the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy in New York City.
There is a genetic component, he says. There are also nurture or non-nurture factors.
For example, people who come from divorced homes are 70% more likely to have generalized anxiety disorder characterized by chronic anxiety, exaggerated worry, and tension.
Overprotective parents tend to raise worriers as well, he says. Reverse parenting may also play a role. This occurs when the child is taking care of the parents because they are not functioning well.
There is probably is a biological component to chronic worry, but there is also an early environment component, agrees Sandy Taub, PsyD, a psychologist and psychoanalyst in private practice in Wilmington, Del. The feeling of safety that my mother will keep me safe should be internalized and grow along with you so that, for the most part, you feel secure, she explains.
But if you had a mom who was not as available and not consistent, you can develop the mind-set that the world is not such a safe place. Divorce and overprotection can also gnaw away at a persons feelings of internal safety and security.
Reasons You Are Stressed About Nothing
Stress and anxiety are regular occurrences in our day-to-day lives. It can feel as though we are consumed by it. Stress occurs when one feels overwhelmed or cannot cope with a variety of pressures. Usually, these things all add up and feel unmanageable, causing stress. It is safe to say that we all feel stress at one time or another. But sometimes, it can feel like we are stressed about nothing, with no apparent reason to justify such an overwhelming emotion.
While it may feel as though you are stressed for no reason, stress is triggered. These triggers are internal and external stimuli that cause feelings of anxiety. You may not even be aware of some of these stressors and how they are affecting you, leaving you feeling like you are stressed for no reason. There is always a reason for your feelings of stress.
There are many ways stress can manifest itself. You are probably noticing that youre experiencing stress while not entirely sure of its root cause. You may be experiencing emotional changes due to increased stress levels, such as anxiety, depression, sadness, and frustration.
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Ways To Eliminate Stress From Your Life
Post written by Leo Babauta.
You often see articles on ways to unwind and relax after a stressful day, which I always find useful, but for me the most important advice would be to get to the source of the problem, and cut stress out before it even happens.
I dont believe that a stress-free life is possible. Stress is a response to challenges in life, and a life without challenges is too boring to contemplate. However, I do believe that most of the stress in our lives is unnecessary, and that it can be eliminated by taking some simple steps. It cant be accomplished overnight Ive been eliminating stressors in my life for awhile now, and Im still not done. But I think its a worthwhile goal.
Lets first take a look at an example its a little extreme, but it exemplifies the typical stressors in peoples lives. Lets say Fred gets up in the morning, waking up late, and now has to rush to get ready. Hes so rushed that he spills his coffee on his shirt and has to change, a nicks himself shaving. He heads out the door and then has to go back in the house because he forgot his wallet. He gets in the car and realizes he forgot his keys.
Again, this is a bit extreme, but you can see through this illustration some of the things that stress people out. There are many more, of course, and I wont cover all of them here.
But these sources of stress can be eliminated with a little thought. Heres how:
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