Stress plagues our everyday lives. It’s sad, but true. When we’re not worried about dodging deadlines at work, weaving through strangers on hot, overcrowded subways, or precariously avoiding family drama, we’re stressed about what to wear to that party on Saturday, and how on earth we’re going to make time to get our nails done before then.
The fact is, stress is everywhere, and it permeates all aspects of our everyday living.
And if you’re anything like me, getting bad news can take the relaxation out of my sails and make something as pleasant as a stroll in the park or a day at the spa somehow “stressful.” While I’m not trying to be Polly Pessimistic, it’s something that we have to embrace and deal with. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do to help mitigate the unpleasantness and succumb to the terrors of stress (which for me, includes sleepless nights, terrible skin rashes, internal havoc, and periodic eye-twitching).
Because stress is but a mere symptom of our physiological and psychological breakdown, we can still alter the situation and manage to keep our sanity before things turn awry. When we learn to recognize and deal with burnout, we will have the power to do what we actually want and take better care of ourselves.
Being mindful of your stress, and integrating different practices into your daily routine can help minimize the likelihood that you’ll have a nervous breakdown. Here are some ways you can keep control of your stress throughout the day:
1. Pause and refresh
When you’re at work and you’re having one of those moments where you’re ready to kick over the water cooler, take a moment. And to prevent those inevitable freak-outs, try and pause for 5 or ten minutes every 2 or 3 hours. Stand up, stretch, and get fresh air. Meditate.
Also, throughout the day, try drinking an excessive amount of water and organic herbal tea. Not only is water great for flushing toxins out of your body, but it’ll force you to take more frequent bathroom breaks, which equates to more time away from your desk to help recalibrate your brain.
2. Try to take things one at a time
All day long, we’re multi-tasking to get a million things done. And sometimes, it feels like there is just not enough time in the day, week, or year. Well, that’s life. Embrace it. And instead of panicking about everything you have to accomplish this millennium, try to limit your anxiety to what you need to get done today. You have all day to worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.
3. Give yourself some credit
I’m awesome. Go ahead, say it out loud. This may sound a bit narcissistic, but it’s important for us to recognize the accomplishments that we have made each day – no matter how insignificant they may seem. When we are stressed-out, everything around us seems chaotic and we get disappointed because we cannot put things in order no matter how hard we try. By giving yourself a little credit, it may give you an extra boost of optimism and that kick-in-the-ass you need to just get things done.
4. Make every day a “healthy” day
While smoking cigarettes, binge drinking, then sitting around all day eating Cheetos may sound fun, your system and your stress levels won’t agree. Going to bed by 10pm and getting regular physical exercise are basic steps of any stress reduction program because they helps calm the nervous system. Sustained exercise, like aerobic, produces more of the natural soothing hormone endorphins in the body.
Healthy balance can also be achieved by reducing our sugar intake. Too much sugar can deplete B-vitamins, which are essential for a healthy nervous system. More importantly, we have a tendency to stress out about our skin, our weight, and our overall health – so why torture yourself via self-destruction? Feeling good about our health and our bodies gives us one less thing to stress about.
5. You can cry if you really want to
Repressed feelings are often intense and destructive — like monsters that slowly eat us from the inside. We have to let go of our emotions when we feel like it. Modesty and professionalism should not stop us from expressing our feelings, but keep it balanced – nobody wants to be known as the office lunatic. Sure, crying not only helps release toxins from the body, and it is also liberating, but have some discretion. Cry under your desk or in the supply closet, and feel free to punch the paper towel dispenser in the bathroom to get some anger out. Just release your emotions before you attempt to discuss your frustrations with co-workers.
6. Laugh all day, at least at yourself
Finding humor in simple things is not synonymous with being mischievous. Instead, it means accepting the fact of life that we are imperfect and we put ourselves into awkward situations every now and then. When those awkward moments happen, try and let yourself appreciate how funny awkwardness actually is. It’s hard “not to take things so seriously,” but laughing at yourself is easier than it seems – and you can still take life seriously at the same time. There are lots of ways to have fun, and stay productive. So laugh – it’s a contagious de-stressor.
At the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide how to deal with stress. While we can’t control every stressful situation that surrounds us, we can certainly control how we let stress control us and our emotions.
What are other ways you’ve been successful at keeping stress at bay throughout the day?
I keep stress at bay just by trying to appreciate everything around me. Knowing that every day, even if it’s a bad day, there’s a blessing in disguise waiting for me to be thankful for! ❤️
Yeah I agree with number 6. Have a laugh and you will feel better.? Almost instantly!
Stress can really affect you physically and mentally. I’ve had horrible experiences with stress at work. The problem was that I wasn’t exactly the person who was stressed. It was everyone else in our department. Stress is very contagious, and you’d hate to be affected by it. It’s even harder when it’s the people around you that are experiencing it and causing you to feel the same. It’s such a heavy feeling. I reached the point wherein I was experiencing hair loss and I kept getting sick almost every week. It was all so unbearable. It’s like every earnings I had was for buying medications. It went on for a year and instead of losing weight I was gaining weight instead because everyone else was stress-eating and you didn’t want to be kill-joy by excluding yourself.
Wow, that’s such a stressful workplace. I can’t even last a month in that kind of environment. It’s so toxic and it’s not even you that’s the problem!
I’ve been under a lot of stress lately. But it’s because I’ve been very productive for the past few months. It’s not bad stress really, it’s something that at the end of the day you feel so exhausted because you’ve accomplished so much during the day. Instead of dreading about the actual stress of juggling your schedule and being able to fit everything in your 24 hours, just think of it positively!
My father used to always say ‘stress is a choice’, and he was right. When a person gets really stressed out and frantic, much of the time it’s because on some level they’ve decided to be that way. Why not just decide to be calm? It’s so much nicer.?
It was just recently that I switched careers and I’ve been under a lot of stress for months already. My career has been okay, not awesome, not bad, but so much better than my previous one. I take it into consideration that I’m “restarting” my career to a new one, so I’m bound to face challenges of all sorts just to get where I want to in the near future. My mom would always notice that ever since I switched careers, I’ve been buying more stuff for myself. She would always nag me about saving money. But the thing is, I’ve been using these purchases as “rewards” for myself. It’s my constant validation that “Hey, I’m earning better now and I have more money to save and buy the things I like!” I don’t even spend a lot, just a couple of $’s that aren’t even hundreds. Just a few token of appreciation for my new venture. It may not exactly be a nice coping mechanism but I must say that it makes me feel better knowing I’m not poor as f*** anymore.
I think those kinds of rewards are pretty acceptable as long as you live within your means. You know? Not spending more than your paycheck or something.
My stress usually comes from not feeling fulfilled about the things I do. I do my best in everything but I can’t seem to get any validation from other people.
I always do number 1. I keep a huge water bottle beside me just so I’d be motivated to do bathroom breaks even if I don’t want to. I’ll be forced to walk around and be able to rest my eyes and stretch even for just a few minutes. It’s not a bad thing really.
Stress is everywhere but it’s a choice on whether you want to absorb it or not.
Stress is so unnecessary. The moment I started to realize that stress isn’t supposed to be a part of my life, I’ve never felt better. What I learned, especially at my work as an event planner is to delegate tasks to people. Just do your part about telling them what they should do and let them figure out how they should do it. Stress is like a badge of importance wherein the more you think that something or someone is relying on you heavily, the more stressed you will be. It’s like carrying every other person’s burden when you can just focus on your own task instead of worrying about everyone else’s.