Some Steps to Squash Your Stress

If you look, you can find ways to reduce your stress around every corner and on dozens of late-night info-mercials.  The trouble with most of them is finding time in our busy lives to tackle the technique proposed to reduce our stress in the first place.  Here are a couple tips to help reduce your stress without having to carve out time to schedule a time to find more time to meditate.

Stress is a normal part of life.  It drives us to accomplish objectives and indicates that we have meaning and responsibilities in our lives.  If the load becomes unbearable, it is time to evaluate things and make some changes.  While we can’t always just quit our job or leave other important responsibilities behind, now is a good time to evaluate the items in or life we CAN change and take some steps to do it.  This is also where the importance of removing the word “should” from our vocabularies is a great step!  Stop saying “I should” and start saying “I will”.

Evaluate where your stresses are coming from and honestly evaluate if they are coming from within.  Do you really need to have a spotless house 24×7?  Do you really need to completely remove (insert food product here) from your diet?  If you honestly look at some of these expectations you may find that you are putting this pressure on yourself.

Say No.  By decreasing expectations and cutting back from voluntary or non-critical chores or duties, you will find the stress levels immediately start to drop.  When I first learned that saying “no” was perfectly acceptable, the weight lifted from my shoulders was eye-opening to say the least.  There is nothing wrong with having a “pleaser” personality, but you will need to learn to say no.  It will provide the ability to focus better on the tasks you ARE doing and lighten your mental load outside of those.

Along those same lines is taking some advice from the Serenity Prayer.  A healthy step is learning to accept the things we cannot control.  I have a friend that gets stressed out every time they fly.  They are worried about the possibilities of what could go wrong.  This is all clearly out of their (or anyone’s) control.  We would all be better served by evaluating situations and external stressors by our ability to control them.  This tends to keep them in their place and off your “worry-list”.

While I clearly condone and believe in the benefits of Lincoln NH yoga, Lincoln NH Massage to our overall health and wellness, they are merely pieces of the puzzle.  Our stress levels are often directly related to things that are completely out of our control.   Learning to recognize this and shift our focus off of those things will be a huge benefit to those feeling overwhelmed and weighed down by stress.
You can get more details and read the full article at MindBodyGreen