Help Your Stress Levels

Sometimes we just need to stop and reset. Life can fly by and we end up rushing alongside from one thing to the next. We get overwhelmed, the stresses seem to pile on and the cortisol is pumping constantly around our body. This starts to be the norm for us and we get to a point where we may break.

Have you ever sat at work and felt like you don’t know what to do next? You have too much to do and no matter what task you pick, you will always feel like you should be doing the other first. Or you might do a little of each, trying to do everything at once, whilst you feel like you do make progress, it will take you ages to complete one let alone all. Why do we do this to ourselves?

After a day of trying to do everything, you go home and try to do everything there. Cleaning, cooking, tidying, washing this list goes on. You end up in a cycle and are constantly stressed and living on the edge.

Often we don’t even realise we are in a state of stress until we break. It could be an outburst, it could be tears or we may just shutdown and go inwards. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that and before you get to breaking point, you realise what it going on and take steps to alleviate your stress.

Here are 5 things you can do to help reduce stress.

1. Breathe – Yes I know, it seems to simple and you do it anyway, but take a minute and just focus solely on your breathing. Breathe in for four, pause, then breathe out for five. Repeat this until you feel yourself calming down and your breathing is steady and less shallow.
2. Exercise regularly – take time out of your busy schedule and do something you enjoy. It could be a simple walk around the block or you could go high energy and play something like squash. If it gets your heart pumping, then go for it. Being cooped up in an office all day and then in your house, you should take some time to step away from the grind and get moving.
3. Re-asses your workload – If you never feel like you are getting on top of your work and are constantly having to work late, perhaps its time you take a look at what you have to do. Write down everything you have to do, if you have a deadline, write that next to it. Can you prioritise your top 3 things? What about any tasks you can delegate? Can some tasks be put on hold? Once you’ve taken time to assess, chat with your manager and let them know how much work you have. Remember to be realistic with how much you can achieve in a day. Things can often take a lot longer than you think, so be sure to plan time in. So that’s work taken care of, what about your home, are you putting yourself under pressure to complete many chores when in actual fact, they don’t need to be done today. Who is making you do them? Are you piling the pressure on yourself? It’s great to have high standards, but if you are feeling stressed out because you don’t have enough time for what you feel you should be doing then perhaps cut yourself some slack and just say no to yourself. What would you say to a friend in that situation. You would tell them to relax and be kind to themselves and stop piling the pressure on to be perfect. Always treat yourself in the same way you would treat a friend.
4. Talk to someone – Have a chat with a friend, partner or family member. Tell them how you are feeling and what is causing you to feel stressed. If there is something they can help you with, then ask. Talking about it can help you to make sense of it and can give you the head space to work things out. Plus you never know, you may get given some good advice that you can implement.
5. Get away from it all – Ensure you take enough time off work, you get holidays so ensure you use them. You need to rest and recuperate. Why not plan a weekend break, get away from it all. You don’t even need to go far, getting out of the familiar is often all you need. As they say ‘a change is as good as a rest’. Why not go somewhere, unplug from the world and get out in nature. See the beauty of the world outside of your bubble.

Think about what is stressing you out and what will help to reduce it. Try the above points if you are not sure, you never know it may help you to come up with other ideas to reduce the stress you are under. We can all be guilty of putting pressure on ourselves to achieve or to go above and beyond what we actually need to do.

If you are feeling stressed, take a moment to think about what is really important and what has to be done. The rest can wait. You are human. You can only do so much in a day. Be kind to yourself.

Have a lovely week. Take care and look after you.

Love Emma xxx