Disclosure: Please note that this post may contain affiliate links, meaning that I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please refer to my Privacy Policy for more information.
What will you get from this blogpost:
- Reasons to take a step back once in a while and find calmness.
- 7 Ways to exactly do that and turn your stressful day around.
Feeling stressed? Sometimes I ask myself: well, who doesn’t? Every day we have so many things to do that it’s almost impossible not to feel stressed.
But I’ve come to realize that life isn’t about running around and keeping up with everything and everyone. Life is about enjoying the little things and being content.
Easier said than done, with a full-time job, school, and my part-time blogging, I’ve definitely reached my limits. The following 7 ways to get through a stressful day have helped me overcome stressful moments in the long run. I hope they can help you alleviate your stress too.
1. Practice Gratitude
You’ve probably read about this one a million times – practice gratitude. And even though practicing gratitude has been around since ancient times, it may feel like it is a “trend” that you need to follow right now.
Well, to some degree this could be right since many people have discovered the power of this practice. But let me tell you, even if it was a trend, follow it, it’s truly a lifesaver.
Gratitude helps you realize all the little things you have to be thankful for. On a stressful day, it reminds you that not all is bad in your life. On a good day, it fills your heart with unconditional love.
And the more you practice it, the more it gives you the power to overcome hardship and find greatness in every little thing around you.
Even better, studies show that grateful people enjoy better mental health, lower stress, and a better quality of life. So, my lovely people, be grateful!
Practicing gratitude is not as difficult as it may seem to you right now. The easiest way is to name three things you are grateful for, every day. I use the five-minute journal, as it has a little more to offer. But any form works just as well. You can:
- use the five-minute journal
- write it on a post-it and keep it somewhere you can see it everyday
- have a notebook with you where you can write it down anytime and anywhere
- have a list on your phone (although, I find it most effective to write it out with a pen)
There are also many ways to do it: you can simply incorporate it into your morning routine. That way, you make sure to have a blissful day, every day. You could also do it right before you go to sleep. That way, however, your day was, it ended with gratitude and you’ll manifest positivity while you’re sleeping. Lastly, you can do it anytime a day, whenever you feel like you need positive energy.
2. Calm Your Mind With Meditation
Meditation has somewhat the same effect as practicing gratitude on people and is known for its many health benefits. One of them is a way for short-term stress relief as well as lasting stress management benefits.
When you learn to focus on the here and now, you won’t be able to think about what has already happened or what may stress you out later on today. You just simply are. And that can improve your day and elevate your mood.
There are many different meditation techniques, each with its own appeal. In my experience, it’s best to try different techniques for some days or weeks and analyze any differences in your body and mind.
You might develop a mantra that you say out loud or find a breathing technique that has a real effect on you. Or you may practice mindfulness for a couple of minutes, in which you try to stay in the present moment and just simply feel, touch, smell, and see.
It depends on each person to find what works best. But once you’ll find the one that makes you feel better, stick to it.
3. Find Peace With Yoga
Practicing yoga is becoming increasingly popular, perhaps because it is strongly associated with stress reduction and relaxation.
According to many studies, even a short yoga session of 10 minutes a day can minimize stress and increase productivity.
It is also believed that yoga is so extremely effective at reducing stress because, in addition to the physical benefits that yoga brings, it promotes a good mood, increases mindfulness, and also boosts self-confidence to a certain extent.
What better way to reduce stress than benefiting physically, psychologically, and spiritually.
To get started, I would recommend grabbing a friend and heading to the nearest yoga studio. Another option would be to enroll in an online yoga program or simply start with a free yoga session on YouTube.
As long as you try it out, any option is worth it.
4. Find an Exercise Routine
Physical activity is key to managing stress. You’re probably thinking of physically exhausting exercise programs right now, but good news, there are many different kinds of activities that have the potential to lower your stress levels.
You can join a gym, take a Zumba class, exercise outside, hike up a mountain, strengthen your muscles, run around the lake, or simply go for a walk. It all counts as physical activity.
As long as you find an exercise routine you can stick to, it doesn’t really matter how you get your body moving.
Bonus: You will definitely feel more confident in your body and most likely experience better sleep than you have in years.
5. Eat a balanced and healthy diet
A balanced and healthy diet has many benefits. From curing diseases to improving physical appearance and strengthening your mental state.
No wonder there is the saying “You are what you eat”.
Your second brain, the gut, is in constant contact with the emotional center of the brain and transmits to it all the information about the situation in the digestive system.
In other words, everything that ends up in the gut affects your emotional state.
If you feed your body with processed, fatty foods, your gut will inform your brain about malnutrition. If you feed your body an antioxidant-rich diet, your brain will receive the good news.
It is only logical that a balanced and healthy diet will therefore also balance your stress levels.
6. Take a break and breath
More often than we realize, we forget to take a break.
We get up in the morning only to find that we missed our ride to work, run from one meeting to the next all day, and try to fit in lunch and dinner dates with family and friends.
By the end of the day, we haven’t taken a minute to catch a breath of fresh air, and we’re chronically stressed and completely exhausted.
This is not how life is supposed to be.
Taking a break and breathing deeply is vital to our overall health and well-being. It doesn’t matter if you are young or old, a stay-at-home mom/dad or a working woman/man, everyone needs a break. Everyone needs to breathe.
Take a walk outside every day, no matter what the situation, and breath. Breathe deeply into your lungs and feel that you are alive. No kidding, this simple act can work wonders.
If for some reason you don’t have the time to leave your desk, at least pay some attention to your breathing. To do this, simply take a minute or two and focus on your breathing as you inhale and exhale deeply.
7. Develop a positive self-talk habit
And now you’re supposed to talk to yourself? Yes, actually, I want you to do just that.
Positive self-talk is an inner monologue that makes you feel good and lifts your spirits. It’s an optimist inside you that helps you see the beauty in life, constantly encourages you to see the positive, and also catches you when you fall.
Everything your best friend should be to you. The person who motivates you, who supports you when life is hard, and who makes you see the positive. But why can’t you be just that for yourself, your own best friend?
According to studies, we have more than 6,200 thoughts running through our heads every day. Most of them are not relevant to our emotional state: do I need to pee, what time is it, should I eat a banana or an apple?
However, there are quite a few thoughts that actually determine how we feel on a daily basis. Unfortunately, we often underestimate the power of our thoughts. We often depend on other people and how they can lift our mood, even though we could think positive thoughts ourselves and have an effect a hundredfold.
So take some time to analyze how you order your thoughts. How many of them are negative? How many of them are positive?
Once you become aware of when and how often you have negative thoughts, you can begin to manipulate your thoughts and turn them into positive ones. This step will take a lifelong burden off your shoulders and you can almost only come out of it feeling at ease.
Have these 7 ways to turn a stressful day around improved your stress levels yet? I’m sure they have, but I’m not quite done yet. The following bonus is huge and even better, it’s the easiest of them all!
Bonus: Hug someone you love
My favorite task of the day: hug someone you love.
So simple, but so effective. And it only takes 20 seconds a day to keep a psychologist away.
Hugging someone you love not only lowers your blood pressure, boosts your immune system, and improves your relationship, but it also helps you relax.
Physically, it helps relax your muscles, especially the tension in your neck and shoulders that comes with stress.
Mentally, it provides you with instant calm and gives you a confidence boost. At the same time, you’ll experience a mindful moment of just being present in that specific moment.
The Bottom Line
Our lives are full of stressful moments. We have a family to feed, we have a job that demands a lot from us, and we have so many other things to take care of. It’s like a never-ending chain of tasks, but there’s just not enough time. We are stressed.
We have become accustomed to the term stress. It’s almost strange when someone isn’t running around all day every day feeling stressed. Yet, this is also why so many people have chronic illnesses and diseases that overwhelm their bodies. It’s all because of the constant stress our bodies are exposed to.
Taking care of our body and mind is crucial to our health and needs to be normalized. It is such an important task.
So use these 7 ways to turn a stressful day around and take control of your life. Learn to relax and also help others to find relaxation in this turbulent life.
0 Comments