Today’s post is by Jason York, a former Licensed Professional Counselor Intern at Counseling South Austin. He enjoys working with people who struggle with procrastination, social anxiety, worry & rumination, and he has a passion for helping people get unstuck!
The simple, and sometimes aggravating, reality is that stress and anxiety are just a part of life. Problems arise when we let it take over our lives.
Anything can trigger these feelings at any time, and for some it seems like it never ends.
After a while your body will begin to break down because of the added toll that not dealing with stress in a healthy way can take.
Here are 7 aspects of your life that are important to focus on when stress and anxiety are wearing you down.
1.) Get enough sleep – There are endless opinions about just what “enough sleep” is, but this is something you can only decide for yourself. When you need rest, you just know.
We often forget that of all the things in our life that are important, sleep is the one that pretty much trumps them all. You can go a week without eating and you will be miserable and hungry. Go a week without sleep and you will be dead.
2.) EAT! – I know it may be strange to follow up the last point by talking about the importance of eating well, but just because you can go a little while without food, doesn’t mean you should.
I don’t just mean eating the right food; I’m talking about eating at all. This is something I struggle with myself. Skipping meals leads to irritability, fatigue, and just makes the things that are causing you stress that much more powerful.
3.) Exercise – People talking about using exercise to cope with stress is a cliché for a reason. It helps on so many levels. It provides a healthy distraction from what is bothering you for a short amount of time and it is just always something you can feel good about doing.
I have never worked out and looked back and said “I really wish I hadn’t done that.”
4.) Get out of the house – Isolation is never the answer when you are feeling anxious. All it does is give you more time in your head to ruminate on what is bothering you and think of more ways to procrastinate.
I can be a bit of an introvert, so believe me I am not suggesting you have to always be a social butterfly. For many, this is just not who they are. However, if nothing else, just go and sit in a public place and be around other people. Taking that step out may just help you take a step forward.
5.) Journal – Writing or expressing yourself in any way can be a great way to just get all those thoughts that are eating you up out of your head.
Putting them down can give you new perspective and can also just be an outlet to work on what is bothering you in a new way.
6.) Mindfulness – Whether you engage in a formal mediation exercise or just pay more attention to whatever you are doing in right now, mindfulness can be a great way to fight feelings of stress and anxiety.
So much of our anxiety comes from lingering too much on ruminating on the past or worrying about the future. Take a few minutes a day to focus just on the present.
7.) Talk to someone – Having someone to bounce things off of is one of the purest ways to see them in a new way and also lighten the burden of carrying it on your own.
Talk to a friend, family member, counselor; whoever you feel comfortable with. Also, try being there for someone else. We all need support and being there for others is a great way to gain perspective.
This list is by no means meant to be a cure for the unpleasantness of stress and anxiety, but when you focus on what is important in your life you can take away some of the power it can have over you.
Try starting by working on each area one at a time and be careful not to be hard on yourself if you find it difficult. If doing the things that are supposed to help becomes just another cause of stress and anxiety, what’s the point?