How to Stress Less!
It has become so normal to live with stress – when this doesn’t have to be the case at all.
You may already know what is causing a lot of stress in your own life – but even when we are able to identify our stresses, it’s a whole other subject on how to get rid of that stress.
Oftentimes, stress happens because of school, financial issues, relationship problems, personal or emotional issues.
And many of these root causes of stress we just can’t simply get it out of our lives: We need to go to school, we need to pay the bills, we must face our relationship problems, and address our own personal or emotional issues.
However, despite all this – There is a way to stress less. You should not live with stress.
Reasons to Lower Stress
For a Happier Life
Reduce stress for yourself and your own happiness!
I am a huge advocate for living a happy life here on this blog. It is not a realistic mindset to live a “perfect life” but we can definitely aim for a life where we are happy – Even if we are in debt, even if we don’t have the income we want, or the house we want. Despite all of that – happiness is still achievable through our own self-awareness and hard work.
For better health
Lowering stress results in better health. Stress causes a whole slew of health issues: From a lower immune system to even triggering chronic illnesses (both physical and mental)
I have been pretty good at managing stress from my University days onwards and I have definitely seen the results in my health:
Before, I used to get sick 1-2 times a year. Now, in the span of about 6 years, I have only gotten sick 3 times (One was food poisoning, the other 2 minor sniffles).
I may not get enough sleep at times.
I may not have the most healthiest diet.
But I do stress less – And that has made the biggest difference in my health.
Below is a list of 17 Health-related Reasons to Avoid Stress from Adrenal Fatigue Solutions
Ways to Stress Less
1. Be Kind
I have made this my number 1 for a reason.
I am a true believer that what you let out into the world comes back to you: If you do good to others and are always kind, there will be so much goodness and kindness that you see back from the world. You will see even the occassional bad things that happen during the day happens for a reason.
So be kind. Be good to the world. You will notice there is less to stress about in the world when there is so much goodness and beauty.
2. Know yourself
Know your strengths and weaknesses – And what is an easy trigger for stress in your everyday life. Identifying what may stress you out easily can help you find a way to not necessarily avoid the stress, but how to strengthen your mind and heart to better cope with that stress.
This will help you for the long run – no matter what type of stress you may run into during the course of your life – Being self aware and knowing yourself will be your greatest strength against that stress.
Related Blog Posts:
8 Steps to Be More Self Aware
100 Questions to Ask Yourself for Self Growth
3. Minimize
If you are jam-packing your day with dozens of different things to do and stressing over these to-do lists, you may want to start minimizing your life.
- Perhaps you can get all your shopping done in one trip for the week.
- You can prioritize your errands and outings.
- Only have and keep the things in your life that make you genuinely happy.
- Build an everyday routine to lower stress.
4. Stop the Overthinking
If your mind tends to worry, think, and race a lot – Learn to blank out your mind.
Zone out.
Float… Imagine being a cloud if that helps.
Learn to actively try to empty out your mind – Because sometimes nothing is the very thing you need most.
5. Forgive
Not being able to forgive at the end of the day can lead to so much more stress in the future.
So make sure before you go to bed, you forgive everyone… including yourself.
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Related Blog Post: 25 Ways to Show Someone That You Care
6. Learn to Be More Flexible
Change always happens – whether you are expecting it or not. If change is something that causes a lot of stress to you, you may want to try to learn to be more flexible.
The way I cope with change is that I learn to trust it. I know and truly believe that that change is happening to me for a reason, and it is up to me to calmly see myself through it, keeping myself open to figure out the reason behind that change.
By doing this, I have been able to see so much of the positive that comes from changes that seem negative at first. And after each experience, I have learned to completely trust the change and let it happen as it is meant to happen and not fight against it so much.
7. Lower Your Expectations
If you expect the most out of others and yourself – You are setting yourself up for disappointment and possibly stress if you keep relying on those expectations.
Learn to let things be.
Let others be.
No one can be on-time all the time. Mistakes happen. There are so many variables that are simply out of our own hands.
The only thing we can do is to communicate well under these circumstances and let life unfold. Eventually things will settle back to normal – and life will continue. It always does.
8. Stop procrastinating
A lot of stress can come from us procrastinating tasks until the last minute. If this is the case, the greatest thing you can do for yourself is to be more self-disciplined.
Self-discipline is overcoming that need for instant-gratification (that “have fun now” mindset) so that you can do the things you need to do now to set yourself up for success in the future.
Learning self-discipline is one of the greatest things you can do for your life: You will reap the benefits for the rest of your life if you are able to hone this one skill.
Here are some ways you can be more self-disciplined:
- Simply counting down from 3, 2, 1 and forcing yourself to do the task helps – From Mel Robbins Talk on Motivation is Garbage
- Visualize the end goal or success in your mind’s eye to help drive you to do the tasks you need to do.
- Be in the company of others who motivate you
Self-discipline becomes easier after each time you practice it – Until it finally becomes a lifestyle change. So keep at it – and it will become your normal
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Related Blog Posts:
6 Secrets To Be a Successful Student
9. Change your thought process
Sometimes we stress so much about things that we simply make up in our minds – I know I definitely was this way when I had Social Anxiety Disorder.
Read my Blog Post: How I Overcame my Social Anxiety
If this is something you do – It takes a lot of effort – but what helped me was stopping that thought process in its tracks and re-working it in my mind to persuade myself that it wasn’t a big deal or something I should stress myself over.
This is something that takes years of practice.
I now no longer stress so much about people – And that has mainly been due to working in retail for several years. That has definitely helped me realize how silly a lot of the thoughts I had prior to were. I have learned a lot about life – and even though Retail and Customer Service is one of those jobs that tends to stress people out – It has in-fact helped me stress less about life because I see everyday how clumsy, imperfect, and chaotic life can be – And despite this, how happy and fun people still can be despite all of this.
I hope this blog post was able to help you find a way to alleviate some stress in your life.
Yes, there may be other ways to incorporate stress-relief into your outer life such as lighting a scented candle, getting a massage, or doing a facial. However, I wanted to truly address the core issue of stress and change how our mind perceives stress and we can change that ourselves.
If you want a more calmer life, start with yourself and creating a calmer inner life. Everything else is simply a matter of perception.
Please like, comment, or share this blog post if you enjoyed!
And until next time my lovely reader – I hope you have a wonderful day <3