Too Stressed Tuesday

Welcome back readers. Today is Too Stressed Tuesday and we are going to discuss tips to reducing stress as well as talk about how reducing stress can help improve your overall well being. We all have stress in our lives daily and may not notice how it affects us overall. Currently, I think we can all agree stress levels have reached a new high in our lives. With all that going on in our world right now, we still have to do a majority of our daily routines in new ways. This means things need to change for you and change can be difficult for many of us, which leads to stress. Stress definition on tablet There is also the shift towards more technology use that we have all had to embrace to get things done in our day as we stay home and practice social distancing. This brings a great deal of stress to some of us because it all seems so difficult. Some of us have to still work from home,  have school online, and are having to navigate your family all being home which can bring a great deal of stress to your days. There is also the increased stress for those who can’t access services they once did within the community and maybe are feeling isolated. This can often cause increased anxiety and leads us to stress more. In addition, there are some of us who are essential workers who have to go out. For those who have to still leave the house to go to work, we all thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your selfless service to your fellow humans.

A big thank you to all of you who are essential workers, who are keeping things going while we all do our best to stay home and social distance. We salute you!

Since talking about stress can often stress us out, let’s take a moment to bring ourselves into this moment, putting all the stress and anxiety of the day to the side. Just focus on our your breath. Taking a slow, deep breath, in though your nose and out through your mouth. Do this for a few breaths.  As you continue to breathe just let yourself relax in your body and in your mind. Maybe check in with points of tension in your body, is your jaw clenched or your shoulders tense? Just take a moment to focus on those tension points you may be feeling in your body and try to relax them. Remember if you get distracted, just bring your focus back to your breath, in and out. See, doesn’t that you feel a bit more relaxed?

Remember, you can always drop into your breath when the day get stressful to bring you back to the present moment, helping you find your center and a sense of calm.

Stress can really have an effect on our bodies that is often unseen to us. The TED Ed video explains how stress really effects your whole body and even can change the your brain. We all are going to have stress in our lives, that’s just how life is. Learning how to manage it better is our ultimate goal and can be achieved. Understanding what stress is and what it can potentially do to your overall health can help motivate you to try to find different tools or skills to reduce your stress.

Stress is something we all deal with daily and there are ways to minimize the effects it has on your body. Below is a TEDx Talk with Thijs Launspach who is a psychologist and author of two books on the effects of stress. He talks about the toxic effects stress can have on your body and mind over time. In addition to letting us know what we can stop letting stress take over.

We will all have stress at points in our lives, it unavoidable. The key is to have some helpful tools to use during those moments to reduce the lasting effects it could potentially have on your body and mind. Taking time to meditate, exercise, and practice self-care are great ways to reduce stress right in the moment. Doing something you enjoy, making a call to a friend or playing with your pets are all wonderful ways to help lower your levels of stress during these long days in our homes.Flowers If you take some time to think of things that make you happy and bring you calm, the next time you feel that stress level getting to “burnout”, take a few minutes to and do one of those things mindfully, being fully present. Give yourself a chance to recharge and let the stress float down the river. Stress may be a part of our modern lives yet, we do have the choice to not let it take over our lives. So, the next time you feel frazzled from stress remember you are not alone and there are ways to find some relief. You have the ability to reduce your stress today! Try giving some of these tips a try and see if you don’t find your stress begin to be less of an albatross in your life. I hope you found these videos and tips helpful to you finding your happy place. See you back here on Thursday for more!

Please remember to wash your hands, stay home if you can, practice social distancing and wear a mask to protect the most vulnerable among us.

I am writing this blog to be helpful to you all out there during this turbulent time and am looking for your feedback. Please feel free to leave your comments, questions and suggestions under the Contact Me tab at the top of the page. You can subscribe to this blog by clicking on the Subscribe button in the lower right corner. Just enter your email address and receive Self-Care Corner in your inbox every morning! Isn’t that wonderful?

In addition, you can now find Self-Care Corner on Twitter @selfcarecorners, where I will be posting daily affirmations and ways to cope with these changing times. I hope this will help others feel less alone, more relaxed and more empowered to practice self-care.

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