Stress can come in many forms. Sometimes we “contain” it and just go on as normal and other times you just feel like crawling under the covers and never coming out!
Stress can cause anxiety – how are you going to deal with a particular situation; what will happen if…. etc.
Here are 4 things you can do to help alleviate stress. Do them in order and see how much better you feel
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Go for a Walk
When you feel stressed you’ll find your attention is very much stuck on your immediate surroundings and the problems that you’re faced with. This makes it hard to deal with the stress because you’re “stuck” in it.
That’s the time to go outside and take a walk. If you can go out into the countryside then that’s the best but if not then just walk around the streets.
While you’re walking don’t just look at the pavement in front of your feet mulling over the problems you’re having but look out at the things you’re passing.
Look at the cars on the street, look at the trees, the sky, flowers in someone’s garden etc. It may take a little effort to start with as it’s easy for your attention to go back to whatever is stressing you but if you keep looking outwards you’ll find your mood lightening and you’ll start to feel better.
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Locate what exactly is causing the stress
After taking a walk it’s a little easier to see what’s going on rather than feeling stressed by “everything”. Stress is coming from somewhere or someone.
Is someone giving you a hard time? Are you having financial problems? Are you juggling too many things?
Take a look and see what exactly is causing the stress. If you can’t easily see what this is it’s good to talk it over with a friend. Being able to talk about it helps you see things you might not easily see when just thinking it over.
If someone is giving you a hard time check out the article on toxic people and their effect on you.
If you’re juggling too many things or you’re under financial stress, or whatever is causing the stress, write it down. Then write down 3 things you could do about it. Maybe it’s more than one thing that’s causing stress, in which case write them all down and write down 3 things you can do about each one.
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Do something you like doing
Take some time-out. Do something you like doing. If the stress is caused by having too much to do you might think you don’t have time for this – well, you need to make time! Even if it’s only 1/2 an hour having a quiet read in the garden, or going out for a coffee or soak in the bath with some nice oils for 20 minutes.
You’ll find that any time invested in this will help make you more time to deal with the things in your life that are causing you stress, so this is time well invested!
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Improve your Diet
When you’re under stress it’s often easy to slip into bad habits of comfort eating. Or maybe you’re just not taking the time to look after yourself especially if you don’t have a lot of time. A bad diet can actually lead to stress and stress can lead you to eating a bad diet.
With this in mind add more vegetables and fruit to your diet and cut down on the amount of sugar and caffeine you consume. This will be a good start.
You might find the article Is Stress Making You Fat useful (even if you’re not overweight!).
