Let’s face it, stress is unavoidable. If you think “one day I’ll…” or anything like that, I’m here to tell you that’s a lie. Don’t lie to yourself, that’s the absolute worse person to lie to. There will always be a reason of some sort to stress at every point in life. The keys to stress management are to having the choice of your stressors, what stresses you, and good stress relievers, how you manage stress. Here are 9 ways to relieve stress:
Meditation
For the purpose of this article, meditation will be defined as a moment an individual takes of self peace to allow greater self awareness. When you think of meditation, you may picture a person sitting Indian style in silence free of distraction. While that is a form of meditation, it can also be anything that gives you an opportunity to center yourself, if you will. An opportunity to clear your mind of all thoughts and bring awareness to your now. Most successful entrepreneurs and people who live satisfying lives will agree that even a minute of consistent daily meditation can change your life for the best. Shoot for 5 minutes of daily meditation.
Talk About It
Try talking about your stressors and problems with someone. So many bad decisions and miscommunications can avoided with simple conversation. Whether that other person in the conversation is someone you know or a ‘qualified’ stranger, is completely at you discretion. Did you know some of the problems you think about aren’t real problems at all? Yes, somethings are made up and they can quickly build into real problems that begin to affect you physically. If you don’t bring your problematic thoughts to the surface, that is. Have you ever noticed how your feelings can change about a thought after it’s said aloud?
Play with Kids
Something about interacting with kids can really activate the kid within you. It’s something about the innocence and everlasting energy of little kids with often big imaginations that create happy feelings in adults. Playing with kids allows adults a chance to live in the moment and escape their busy minds for the time being. In that moment no matter how brief it may be, free your mind by of current stressors for that moment. If you don’t have access to kids by friend or family members, you can always volunteer with local boys and girls clubs, schools, or local little league sports teams.
Exercise
Not only is exercising good for your body’s longevity, but it is also a great stress reliever. When you physically work your body in a work out routine or activity, your body produces endorphins, the brain’s feel good neurotransmitters. I used to have a hate for exercise, I used to see it as just one more thing that takes away time from the things I actually want to do. Once you get over whatever personal hurdle you have against exercising and actually do the deed, 9 times out of 10 you will feel better. You might even be thinking, “I can do this again!”. You don’t even have to exercise everyday, you just need to be physically active. Healthcare professionals recommend 30 minutes to an hour of physical activity.
Listen to Music
Listening to music is not only entertaining, but it can also be a great stress reliever. At the next sign of frustration, try taking a 5-10 minute break to listen to some of your favorite songs. Most successful well know songs, are so well known because of the emotions they provoke in their listeners. It’s a whole psychology and science the effects of music on the brain bit, one of which major advertising companies capitalize on substantially. If you listen to feel good music, 9 times out of 10, you’ll actually feel good. Music is also a great way to open the mind and broaden the imagination in a time of mental blocks.
Dance
Dancing is fun and healthy. It’s a form of art, expression through the body. If you can master an understanding of body language, you can unlock some communication cheat codes, but that’s another topic. It definitely counts towards your recommended daily physical activity minutes as it is a form of fitness. Dancing can make you feel powerful and in control and help you live in the moment. Dancing can also take you to another dimension, if you allow it. Pair a freestyle dance session with a playlist and see what happens and how you feel. Hop in front of a mirror or get a group of friends together and vibe.
Pick Up a Fun Habit
Do you have an old passion you stopped and would like to get back into? Or maybe a new passion you have not experienced, but want to try? There’s no better time than the present. If you can find a hobby or new skill to put your energy into, you can put any negative energy you have built up towards stress into something positive and productive. You could read some books, learn to cook, pick up a trade skill, or join a fitness program.When you take moments daily to do something you enjoy or to give yourself some ‘me time’, you allow yourself much needed time for self awareness and peace.
Stretch
Stretching is not only a good way to increase flexibility, but when practiced daily it can provide a moment of deep breathing and peace. You can google deep breathing and hundreds of benefits will come up. Yes, breathing alone can do so much for the brain and body. When you pair breathing and stretching, you get a moment of release and focus. Who wouldn’t benefit from a brief moment of true focus? We all have either millions of worries or millions of thoughts that can bog down and overwhelm our brains. Stretching provides a moment to focus on solely stretching, which allows a moment to regather your thought from a point of clarity.
Break Some Stuff
Disclaimer: We are not telling you do anything to get yourself in trouble or that is illegal.
In times of frustration, a good way to relieve some stress is to break things. If it isn’t already obvious, you want to break things that have no value to you or that you have permission from the owner to break. There’s even a local business in Tempe, Arizona that allows you to break everything they put you in a room with, how you see fit. This is not the most constructive way to release stress, but it’s fun and does the job. At the end of the day that the point of a stress reliever. You may feel a rush of adrenaline, which is a burst of powerful energy. Use this energy to counteract stressors.
Conclusions
Stress is inevitable in life. The best way to manage and live with stress is to build good stress relief techniques. Although, only 9 options were mentioned in this article, it’s only a starting point. There are millions of ways to relieve stress, just remember too much of anything can become a bad thing. The most important quality of a stress reliever is to bring you a moment of peace in a moment under stress. Allowing you an opportunity to move forward with clarity.
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