Ways to Decompress From Stress
What does a mother, college student, and working woman have in common? Stress. Although the word is only six letters long and flows off the tongue easily, it carries a lot of weight in its meaning. Stress can come from a number of situations and take a toll on the mental stability of a person. Learning to cope with stress is a skill that everyone should learn at some point in their life. Here are five great ways to relieve yourself from stress.
- Turn Off Your Phone
In an age of advanced technology and social media, we are unaware of the psychological damage constantly being on our phone does to us. Phones have eliminated the barrier between work and home causing a large amount of people to work overtime without pay. If we are not checking our phones for work updates we are looking for updates in our social media accounts. This constant state of awareness and focused energy can drive one crazy and yes, stress them out. Turning off your phone will free you from this stress and help bring you back to reality. Yes turning off our phones may seem like a crazy idea, but try it out for 10 minutes and see how you like it. You will be shocked by the sense of relief you feel.
- Confide in a Friend
When we are stressed, we tend to feel as though we are alone and no one understands what is going on in our lives. We feel as though our stressors are unique and we are the only one experiencing them, but this is not true. We are more similar than we like to believe and opening up about what is going on in our lives helps us connect with other people experiencing something similar. Confiding in a friend and discussing your stressors with them will give you a sense of assurance and affirmation in your feelings. Friends are there to support you so let them! If you do not feel comfortable discussing your stressors with your friends there is a lot of online assistance available to you.
- Exercise
Exercising is a great way to relieve stress, because it gets the body moving and produces endorphins. There are a lot of ways to exercise including: running, yoga, boxing, spin cycle, pilates, crossfit, and zumba. While exercising, you are not only releasing energy, but your stress as well. As the body is in a state of endurance, your mind is focusing on completing the workout and neglecting all focus on current stressors. Exercising can also improve your sleep as it makes the body more tired.
- Make a List and Rank Tasks Based on Their Importance
Physically writing down what tasks need to be completed is a simple and straightforward technique used to eliminate stress. Sometimes thinking about everything we need to accomplish can be overwhelming and ultimately will lead us in a downward spiral. Making a list will help diminish that extra stress and become an easy tool for checking off that needs to be done. Plus it is a good excuse to use the cute, aesthetically pleasing notebooks we tempter to buy and always say we are going to use one day.
- Social Engagement
If you are under stress, a great way to relieve that is by hanging with friends or participating in an activity that you love. Put down your phone, laptop, or homework and meet your friends for a lunch or movie. Spending quality time with others can put our stressors into perspective and remind ourselves to take a chill pill. Sharing laughs with others can be good for the soul and for our mental health.
Stress is something that can feel as though will never leave your side, but these five tips can help relieve that and make you enjoy every part of life.