Stress has a reputation for coming into our lives uninvited. We know that stress can make us feel tired, over worked,depressed and sometimes even physically ill. Some people have higher stress levels than others but the bottom line is that we all know what stress is like.. and unfortunately it is not fun. So many things can contribute to stress, your job,your home environment, being a busy parent who multi-tasks on a day-to-day basis. The big question is, are we going to let stress win? The answer is not at all. We will say NO to stress.
The first step into saying no to stress would be to change your way of thinking. Whenever you start to feel stressed out, take a deep breath and tell yourself it is okay. You are your own best friend. The more you talk yourself through stress, the easier it will be for you to handle stress when it arises. I like to think of this as many know, "going to my happy place". After some practice you might actually find yourself going to your happy place on your own without thinking about it. To help you do this, you can go to a different room alone and take deep breathes. Try not to look at your phone or any electronic devices and just take a minute to yourself.
Another way to beat stress, is to stay busy! When you are busy, your mind is moving fast! Sometimes this means you won't have time to feel stress. Getting out of the house once a day can help you keep a clear mind by keeping your mind moving! Some ways to do this might be to come up with new recipes, take your kids to a new park you have never been to, or just go take a walk! I noticed that staying busy for me, helped me stay focused on myself and my family. It really helped me stress less or eliminate it completely.
Now, we all know eating healthy and staying active can help lots with saying no to stress. This is another tool that won't just help you beat stress but will help you with your overall health. When we feed our bodies nutritious foods and keep our bodies moving, we are essentially taking care of our bodies and our mental health. When we are taking care of our mental health and watering it with vitamins and minerals, it is stronger and ready to fight stress. Not only will your mental health be in great shape, so will your body. When our bodies are working the best they can and are as strong as they can be, we feel great and therefor we do great. I know from experience it can be hard to keep up with a perfect diet and stay on a regimen everyday when you have young children or you work all the time. Starting healthy habits, such as, getting at least 30 minutes of exercise a day and healthier food options puts you on track to better overall health.
After you have got use to paying attention to your health, now it's time to pay attention to your water intake. Staying hydrated ultimately helps you beat stress and stay healthy at the same time. The more hydrated you are, the better your blood flow. That means the better your blood flow, the better your brain operates. Water can help you strengthen your brain to fight stress. Of course, staying hydrated has an insane amount of benefits other then fighting stress, however, for me, staying hydrated means saying no to stress.
Lastly, beat stress by doing things for yourself! Personally, this was my biggest weapon against stress. As busy people, we spread ourselves thin. We might need to work six days a week, keep a tidy house, take care of children and then run here and there on a weekly basis. Of course, these things must get done and we do feel great when we are on top of things, however, when we are always taking care of everything else, we forget about ourselves. This can cause even more stress. When we forget about ourselves, we begin to feel overwhelmed with everything we need to do. Hence, cause more stress. When you take a couple hours out a day to spend time with yourself, you are recharging and getting your mind clear to battle all the things you must do. When we have a clear mind, we have a less stressful mind. An example I can give you that I do for myself is waking up before everybody else is awake and having tea or reading a book. I like to do something in utter silence and it helps me get ready for my busy day. This has helped me immensely.
I think these are all great ways to deal with stress. We are all in this together and we cannot let stress consume our lives. We can do this!
Maybe you have different ways to say NO to stress. I would love to hear other ways I can say eliminate stress. I hope I was able to give you new ideas and help you battle your days!
