How to ProActively Manage Your Stress Level

Whether you are on the front lines or a member of your company’s C-suite, the hustle, bustle, and challenges of everyday life are making our stress levels inch up daily. We must find a way to break free! Holding onto the stresses of (September 19, 2016) will only add to the tensions of today and tomorrow. Eventually the amount of pressure you carry around inside you from this stress may become unbearable, and it will come out. And, not always in the healthiest of ways for you, your family, and your colleagues at work.

You work hard to provide a good life for your family, but stress can prevent us from enjoying that very life. We must work to not allow stress and worries to rob us of the happiness and contentments of life!

Here are a few simple strategies to help banish daily worries and stress:

1. Reach Out, and Ask for Help.

• If you feel as though you are constantly running on empty, your mind, body, and soul will suffer the repercussions of your perceived tenacity.
  
• There is no shame in asking for a helping hand.
  
• Oftentimes, we can able lean on a significant other, coworker, or friend. But, there will be other times we may have to hire help.
  
• If your increasing responsibilities are barely allowing you the necessary time to eat and sleep, you may have too many things on your plate.
  
• Try to streamline your responsibilities by creating a time-effective plan for crossing the items off of your to-do list in less time.
  
• Most people are delighted to be needed and will be more than willing to help you.
  
• If housework is one of the major the millstones of your stress, divide the tasks equally amongst the family members in your household. Or, hire someone.

2. Schedule “Me”-Time

• What do you enjoy doing?
  
  
  
  • Knitting, relaxing in a bubble bath, drawing, lounging in bed watching reruns of Seinfeld or Game of Thrones?
    
  • Indulge yourself in your favorite lazy (aka- “slacker”) activity a few times each week.
  
  
• Chisel out a couple of hours every weekend to indulge in your favorite lazy activity.
  
• Choose at least one weeknight to simply relax after work.
  
• Soaking in a candlelit bubble bath while listening to your favorite music and reading a magazine is an effective way of washing the day’s stresses away.
  
• Most importantly, stop making yourself feel selfish for taking time for yourself.
  
• You are busy, but taking a few scheduled hours to de-stress will save you from going into overdrive and possibly stressing out your loved ones later.

3. Get Out!

• Make time for socializing with friends and family. It is a vital aspect of managing your stress levels.
  
• Friends and family make you laugh and provides you with a shoulder to lean on. This, alone, will deplete your stress levels exponentially.
  
• If possible, designate one day per week (like Sundays) to spend time with extended family and friends.
  
• You could host a neighborhood barbeque in your backyard, host a Sport Sunday gathering, or simply have coffee with your closest pals.
  
• Living far away from friends and family can put a damper your ability to socialize. But, there are still things you can do:
  
  
  
  • You can meet friends at church, clubs and organizations, neighborhood gatherings, at the park with your kids.
    
  • Look online for your community meeting site, or MeetUp.com to find a group of likeminded folks.
  
  
• When hosting events in your home, stop fretting about the details. This is counterproductive to your efforts to de-stress!
  
  
  
  • Make a simple plan.
    
  • Use paper plates, napkins and plastic utensils for quick and easy cleanup.
    
  • Consider ordering a pizza rather than cooking. Unless, of course, you love to cook, and you find it relaxing.

Stress has come to seem like a normal part of life for most of us. The fact is, that it does not have to be this way if we are willing to put our own sanity first.

Most of the time there is a fairly quick and simple fix to the challenges that are causing us stress.

Rethink the way you perceive the issues and how you will choose to address them.

Beauty and stress are both in the eye of the beholder!

Photo Credit: Amy McTigue via Compfight cc

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