Everybody feels stressed from time to time. Even if you don't think you're a particularly stressed out person, even if you don't believe that stress affects you very much, you do get stressed and it's the way you handle your stress that will really make a difference to the way you act. There is nothing easy about being stressed out. There is nothing easy about the anxiety, the worry, and the tension that comes with feeling stressed.
We all have different triggers that lead to stress, and we will all have different ways of destressing. Some people like to go for a walk in nature, whereas other people like to go and get their numerology charts read. Understanding your stress and exactly what will help you to calm it down is how you start to come out of that stressful time. The trouble is that when stress is prolonged it just does nothing for you but makes you more unhappy. With this in mind, I've got some tricks you can use to calm yourself down and destress in five minutes.
Practise smiling
You may have heard the age-old phrase "grin and bear it", but smiling is an important way to show people you are happy. Even when life is stressful, the simple act of smiling can make you feel less stressed and make you feel happier. It's kind of like a fake it until you make it scenario.
Practise deep breathing
When we stop breathing we stop thinking, and when we are stressed we tend to hold our breath in because we are too tense. Deep breathing can help you to disengage from those distracting thoughts and it can help you to fill the tension leaving your body. Deep breathing also gives you a chance to think clearly, which is something that you desperately need when you're feeling stressed out. You need to allow your breath to come out much longer than it takes it to come in, so take your time and learn how to breathe deeply.
Chew gum
Sometimes, having chewing gum in your mouth can help you to destress because you are focusing on what you are chewing rather than what is worrying you. You will relieve your anxiety, improve your alertness and reduce your stress by up to 16%. All you need to do is keep gum with you at all times, so when things start to feel overwhelming, you can pop some in your mouth and keep going with your day.
Learn to meditate
Meditation is a tried and trusted way to help you to relieve some stress. It's simple to do and you can do it wherever you are, so even if you are in the middle of a nature walk in your local park, you can sit down and meditate to get rid of your stress.
A problem shared
Whenever you are feeling stressed out, pick up the phone and vent to your best friend. If you don't have anybody with you that you can call, call a family member or even call a helpline that can help to calm you down. Sometimes all you need is that additional voice telling you that things will be okay.
Hopefully, these tips have helped give you some ideas of how you can destress. If you have any other tips, please feel free to leave a comment below.
How do you destress?
Love Beth xx