Stress is everywhere. Stress at work. Stress at home. Stress getting between work and home. It’s unavoidable. But while you can’t control all the things that cause stress, you can control how you deal with it. With a little thought and some practice, you can learn how to manage stress and make it through your days without losing your sanity.
How to Manage Stress
There are numerous stress management techniques you can learn—some are simple and take less time than you’ll spend reading this article. Others require professional help and can take a lifetime to master. So if you’re looking for ways to deal with the stress in your life, here are a few methods to consider. Learn more about acute stress disorder treatment in Palm Beach Gardens, FL.
Just Breathe
Breathing is something we do automatically, so it can be easy to take its importance for granted. An involuntary change in our breathing patterns can be a sign of stress. But taking a moment to focus on nothing but inhaling and exhaling can bring quick relief.
There are numerous ways to use your breathing for stress management. One of the better-known methods is the 4-7-8 technique. It’s quite simple—in fact, the instructions are in the name. First, breathe in through your nose smoothly for a count of four. Next, hold that breath as you count to seven. Finally, release the air through your mouth evenly as you count to eight. Repeat several times until you feel yourself begin to relax.
Deep breathing offers several immediate benefits. By concentrating on your breathing, you break the hold your stressor has over you mentally by giving yourself something else to think about. Being slow and deliberate with your inhalation and exhalation also creates something known as a biofeedback loop.
By acting calm, your body begins to believe it’s no longer in any danger and will relax. And by breathing deeply, you’ll increase the amount of oxygen in your brain, which will lead to an overall feeling of well-being.
Be Mindful
Mindfulness is often mistaken for mediation. And indeed, meditation and mindfulness are a part of the same equation. But mindfulness isn’t quite as deliberate as meditation. It’s less a practice than a state of mind. It’s also another great solution for how to manage stress.
Mindfulness asks you to change the way you think about what’s causing your stress by withholding your emotional investment in it. Let’s take an example. Imagine you have an urgent deadline at work—and deadlines, as a rule, stress you out. It’s a perfectly natural reaction. However, you can short-circuit the stress by merely recognizing the emotions that cause it.
When a deadline looms, you worry you’ll be unable to perform the task up to your standards. That’s where the emotion kicks in: you’re afraid of failure. That fear converts itself to stress, then the process repeats itself. If you recognize the fear and accept it, it can help keep your stress from escalating. Ask about mindfulness training during your individual counseling session in FL.
Accept Things
Eventually, we call come to realize that there are things that are out of our control. Nature. Fate. Other people. Resisting things that we can’t change can be a significant source of stress in our lives. You can forgive yourself and use stress management techniques. After all, fighting unpleasant, unintended, or otherwise unforeseen outcomes is human nature. But in the long run, it does more harm than good.
Accepting the things you can’t change allows you to spend your energy on more productive pursuits, like changing the things that are within your control. Start with yourself. Then expand your circle to include others. Add in circumstances or situations. By letting go of the things that are out of your control, you’ll gain more control of the things that make a difference in your life and manage stress.
Remedy Therapy
No one lives a stress-free life. But stress doesn’t have to run your life, either. Contact Remedy Therapy, we can help you learn how to manage stress, let go of what’s holding you back, and make the most of the life you’ve been given. For more information, please call us at 561.414.2607.
