In today’s busy world, stress is an accepted everyday emotion. Naturally, you are pulled in a million different directions due to your numerous responsibilities. Between catching up on your work emails and ensuring you have clean dishes ready for dinner, your mind is going a mile a minute. While you may have become accustomed to bearing this burden and navigating your daily life, this doesn’t mean you can’t address these issues in order to ensure a calmer schedule.
Did you know that stress can negatively affect your health as well? If you feel yourself staying up all night with insomnia or becoming sick more often, you may be experiencing some short term health issues caused by stress. These are great indicators that you need to take a minute to reexamine your habits and adjust accordingly. If you let your stress take over your life indefinitely, you may encounter some long term effects including but not limited to: increased risk of a stroke or heart attack, weight gain, and high blood pressure.
Below, we have identified some common stressors that you may be facing and some tips on how to combat them. Keep reading for help on adjusting your everyday wellness!
Overstimulation Stressors
In today’s age of technology, screen pollution is all too real. Being on your computer or phone all day may cloud your thinking and even have a negative impact on your memory. With work emails constantly rolling in and a new feed to scroll through, it’s hard to escape. Inadvertently, these habits are causing your mind and body to feel unnecessary stress. Even if you save your screen time for before bed, this can still deter your mind from unwinding due to the blue light your screen produces.
The solution? Yoga. Yoga is a great way to connect with your mind and a proven way to destress. Stress has different ways of revealing itself and one of them is through back or neck pain. Yoga not only is a perfect way to address those physical pains, it increases your flexibility, sharpens your mind, and flexes your concentration muscles. Instead of beginning your morning routine with a scroll through your Instagram feed, lay out your mat and get a 15 minute yoga session in before hopping on your laptop. If you need more drastic measures, you might want to consider stepping away for a weekend. A great way to recharge and start fresh is through a yoga retreat. Take a major pause from electronic devices and make the most of your retreat. You will leave feeling refreshed and more productive for the weeks to come.
Additionally, if you are constantly overwhelmed by the amount of work emails you are receiving each day, there are ways to resist this. Schedule out time to solely focus on your inbox. Tackle the more time consuming emails first and then work your way through the easier ones. On the weekends you can even go as far as storing your computer away for one whole day start to finish.
Financial Stressors
Handling and managing bills can cause anxiety in everyday life. You are not alone in feeling out of control around money. So much so, that according to the American Psychological Association, 72% of adults feel some sort of stress around money. It’s crucial that you educate yourself about money and become more aware of your spending.
Financial literacy is a way to successfully cope with financial stressors. Use resources available to you and research opportunities to lighten your load. Of course, budgeting your current expenses is a beginning step to managing this stress, however, there are plenty more of actionable items to combat this anxiety.
Time Stressors
Time tension is unavoidable. Running late or cramming too much in your tight schedule can start to cause you to panic. When you are running late you are more prone to make mistakes and end up spending more time doing the smallest task. To avoid this, put in a conscious effort not to multitask. Multitasking can cause you to not give your best effort in the tasks at hand.
How do you combat those pesky time stressors? Take a moment to breathe. Having a quiet moment to yourself can do wonders to reset your mind and look at your to-do’s in a new light. Another way to begin your day less stressed about time is to incorporate movement into your morning routine. There are numerous benefits to leading a healthy lifestyle, and starting your day with a little yoga or walking around the neighborhood can boost your serotonin right off the bat.
It’s important to give yourself a breather and allow yourself space to manage stress. Think about getting a “just for fun” hobby or budget some time to include meditation and yoga. Take care of yourself. Remember, you can’t pour from an empty glass!
