Hi everyone, welcome to day 2 of this blog post series! Today we are looking at how to review and release stress from your life.
In line with World Mental Health Day, over 7 days we are looking at ways to stress less and love life!
So today we will look at identifying our stresses and then minimising them into manageable chunks.
Let’s do this!
One of the main reasons why we are so much more stressed than let’s say our grandparents were, is because we are taking on a lot more.
Some of us have families where each partner is working a full-time job and possibly a side job as well to make ends meet financially. That leaves all the hard work of keeping a house and raising a family, which needs to be done during “off” hours.
With this in mind, it can often feel as though there are no “off” hours and just not enough time in the day to get through everything.
Enough is enough, we need to care more for ourselves and find a happy balance in life.
Remember that stress doesn’t come from what’s going on in your life. It comes from your thoughts about what’s going on in your life.
Andrew J. Bernstein
If your in search of hope and optimism then here is the perfect post for you!
Taking Back Control
Most of us no longer mentally clock out at the end of the workday.
Instead, we take our work home, and are reachable at all hours via text message or email. Add to that the stress constant connectivity and social media creates and it’s no wonder we’re more stressed than ever.
It’s time to do something about it.
Start by reviewing everything you do in a given day.
A great tool for this is a time log. Keep a simple piece of paper or a small notebook with you at all times. Set an alert on your phone to go off every 30 minutes (during waking hours), and quickly jot down what you’re doing.
Be brutally honest. No one else needs to see this log and you can throw it away after you’re done.
After a week of logging, you get a pretty good idea of where you spend your time and mental energy.
Now comes the fun part. Look through your data and decide what you can let go off.
What can you stop doing?
What can you release?
Open up some time for yourself to exercise, meditate, or to take a nap so you can catch up on much needed sleep.
Review & Release Stress
Next it’s time to review and release all those worries, questions, and “should-dos” that are stressing you out.
Get out another sheet of paper or two and start to write down anything and everything on your mind.
All the stuff you’ve been thinking about doing. All the stuff that’s been worrying you. Get it all out.
Walk away for a few hours and then come back to your list. Cross out as much as you can.
Things that are out of your control and you decide to mentally release.
Tasks that you feel like you should do, that you really don’t need to do.
Then rewrite what’s left on two different lists.
One will be things you can do, or have someone else do for you. This will become your master to-do list for the next few months.
The other is a list of worries or concerns. Notice how much smaller and shorter those lists are and how much lighter you feel just getting it all out of your head.
Last but not least, go burn that master brain dump list. Doesn’t it feel good?
You can check out yesterday’s post here. I love to hear from you so please share any thoughts below 👇🏼
Make sure you sign up for emails 💚
