Have you had one of those days where you feel like everything is on your shoulders, you have too much on your plate, and if things go wrong it will all be your fault!
We’ve all been there, we over commit and trick ourselves that we can deal with the stress, but it’s breaking us and breaking our spirit. Stress creeps up on all of us and soon it feels normal and so we don’t see how things could be different. But I’m here to tell you this stress continued over an extended period can start damaging our health, our emotional state, our relationships, work, productivity and overall quality of life.
For a healthy happy super life, we need to learn to recognize long-standing stress and break its cycle… So here’s what to know about stress and how to avoid it!
When stress kicks in, you go into a “Fight or Flight or Freeze” mode.
Fight – you’re moody, over-emotional, anger consumes you
Flight – you pull away, shut off and avoid the task/challenge
Freeze – the feeling of being stuck or frozen under the pressure
So which one are you? And how much of the below will you do to overcome this?
Here are some strategies to help overcome overwhelm and stress.
1. Make it About You
Spend half an hour a day on you! Work on your goals, read, meditate, listen to inspiring podcasts or YouTube videos. You might think half hour is too much – try it for a few weeks and I will bet you that you’re going to start getting more excited and passionate about your future!
2. Cut yourself some slack
You’re juggling work, cleaning, attending to your partner, running after your kids, making sure you meet your deadlines! – You can only do your best! Studies show that people who are self-compassionate are happier, optimistic and less anxious/depressed… and the cherry on top… they’re more successful!! So give yourself a dose of self-compassion today.
3. Chiropractic Care
Adjustments help the nervous system calm down. It helps switch on the parasympathetic part of the system, which regulates blood flow, digestion, breathing, etc. and switches off the fight/flight/freeze mode.
4. Rely on Routine
When I ask what is the major cause of your stresses; the answers are, deadlines, sudden heavy workload, financial commitments! I never hear “having to make many decisions.” Every time you try making a decision; what to wear, what to eat, where to go – you’re creating a state of mental tension that can be stressful. So, reduce the number of decisions you have to make by planning ahead. If you’re doing a task every day, do it at the same time. Pre-plan and make your meals, do groceries on one day of the week, exercise the same time each day, schedule your free time. It sounds boring and robotic? You might want that spontaneous spark seven days a week. But I know from personal experience as well as talking to large business/corporate leaders that simple routines reduce the amount of stress you experience. Why do you think top people have personal assistants? So they don’t have to plan and do all the small things, their minds are free for the bigger tasks.
5. Good exercise and diet
When you exercise you release endorphins – and who doesn’t like endorphins?! Those little hormones that make you feel over the moon! In addition to this, when you exercise you’re focused on the activity which means you’re not constantly thinking of other stresses, this helps your mind to relax. You’re also increasing blood flow, oxygenation of your body, and getting your body moving. Also, what you eat is how you will feel. Tea, coffee, cheese, sugar, alcohol can get you down. Get onto fruits, veggies and pure water for the vitamins and minerals. If you don’t fuel yourself properly, your body can’t cope and you stress will increase ten fold!
It would be great to implement some of these into your life, feel free to let us know how that goes 🙂
Reference:
http://welladjusted.co/blog/2015/05/21/looking-at-..