“Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.” ~Hermann Hesse
With everything the world has been going through, it’s understandable that everyone would be experiencing more stress. The uncertainty of everything can be an undercurrent of stress we learn to accept as the new norm and try to push through to keep going. In some ways, I think the post-pandemic world made us less stressed and highlighted areas in our lives that we had allowed to become imbalanced.
During the pandemic, I personally felt like I was on a hamster wheel, with my kid’s soccer, school, social events, work, home, etc.… my life felt like a constant moving platform I was trying to balance on and keep up. Having everything shut down was almost a relief. It forced us to just stop. It made us pause and re-prioritize what were the most important things in our life and if we were really putting our energies into the right places.
On the other hand, the stress of the unknown was the new reality. Were we going to keep our jobs? If not, would unemployment run out before we found new jobs? There were many people who had to work in the public regardless of their risk factor. Not being able to see loved ones or celebrate milestones together. What would happen if we caught COVID ourselves or if one of our loved ones got sick? All of it was a huge stress ball that we were all experiencing as a collective.
For me, I found myself stress eating and not doing the things I knew would make me feel better. The stress of everything was overwhelming me and I started to slide into depression. Six months into the pandemic, I was forty pounds overweight, bottling up my emotions, not managing my stress and miserable. My self-esteem was suffering and so was my family. I decided to start with baby steps, working my way toward a better place physically, walking every day, even if it was for only twenty minutes, cutting out sugar and processed foods and meditating on a regular basis. Slowly but surely, I started inching my way back to a better emotional place where I could manage the stresses life threw at me from a more grounded, happy, mental space.
As life continued to evolve and change past the pandemic and into the now, the stress of the unknown is still present. I believe this is a huge growth opportunity for us. Recognizing that stress is part of the human experience, part of who we are and learning how to not just manage it but honor it. To take time to relieve it, which is something that we all need to do to lead happier, healthier lives. We aren’t taught how vital stress management is in school, most of us just bottle it up and keep going.
I fumbled my way through my own stress management by seeking out tools and techniques that could help me. The first step was I had to recognize how I was not handling my stress before I could deal with it. I also learned how not handling my stress was impacting my health.
Stress is recognized as the number one proxy killer disease today. The American Medical Association has noted that stress is the basic cause of more than 60% of all human illness and disease.
Chronic stress can affect your brain, suppress your thyroid, cause blood sugar imbalances, decrease bone density and muscle tissue, raise blood pressure, reduce your immunity and ability to heal, and increase fat deposits around your abdomen that are associated with heart attacks, strokes and elevated “bad” cholesterol.
This is why it is imperative that we start today by making the necessary changes to manage and reduce our stress.
Here are six practical tips for reducing stress and finding balance in your life today:
Exercise Daily: Even a fifteen-to-twenty-minute walk can help reduce stress significantly.
Write: Journaling can help alleviate stress and acknowledge what’s happening to make space for it.
Breathing Exercises and/or Stretching: Implementing a routine where you can breathe and stretch will allow you to get in touch with your body, release tension and slow down. Yoga is a great practice for this.
Talk To Someone: Visiting with friends, loved ones or even a professional can help you process your feelings instead of bottling them up.
Drink Less Alcohol: Drinking may seem like a good way to unwind but the negative impacts on your health, but it can actually cause more stress on your body and only acts as temporary relief in the moment.
Meditate Daily: Did you know that meditating rewires your brain to process your stress differently, so you are less overwhelmed? (Here's a short meditation we found on reducing stress)
These are just a few tools and techniques to support you on your personal journey to minimizing stress where possible in your life. I invite you on this journey with us as we delve into reducing stress and supporting each other in leading our best, most empowered lives.
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