Society is driven by stress—bills to pay, career growth, healthy eating, staying in shape, and social interactions, there’s so much to think and do. “Everything in moderation” is a phrase that we tend to apply in order to achieve balance in life. The same concept applies to stress. We know that a moderate amount of stress is healthy and helps us push ourselves outside our comfort levels to achieve more. But what happens when our stress levels become unmanageable, and we find ourselves unable to cope with the amount of stress we encounter?
8 Ways to Manage Stress
Achieving balance in life doesn’t mean completely eliminating stress. It’s about recognizing when we’ve taken on too much and finding ways to re-center our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Here are some strategies to eliminate unnecessary stress from your daily life:
- Prioritize and Set Boundaries
This goes for the weekly dinner with your coworker you find yourself dreading, or the extra project you picked up because you want to impress your boss. If it isn’t essential and takes away from putting meaningful time and effort into more important endeavours, learn how to say no when you need to. - Listen to your body.
At times we can be so mentally and emotionally stressed that we may not notice until we start to get migraines, lose or gain a noticeable amount of weight, experience panic attacks, or engage in stress-induced habits (nail biting, hair pulling, jaw grinding). These signs that we are stressed can be a sign to slow down and take care of ourselves physically, emotionally, and mentally. - Find Balance Through Movement and Stillness
Exercise has been proven time and time again to lower stress hormones while increasing feel-good chemicals in the body, better sleep quality and body image. The opposite activity, meditation, has also been shown to have the same effect by bringing down anxiety and heart rate, and keeping you aware of the present moment. - Stay Organized
When we’re stressed it can be so tempting to bury our heads in the sand and put off our obligations and commitments for “later on”. As easy as this is, it only increases stress down the road. Writing things down, starting early, or setting small deadlines with rewards can help you keep organized and lessen your chances of being overwhelmed “later on”
. - Nourish your Body
Our diet can also contribute to how well we cope with stress. Foods and drinks (coffee, alcohol) high in sugar, fat, with empty calories may help us feel better in the moment, but can also lead to a hard crash after, making us feel worse. Fueling your body with enough water, veggies, fruits, grains, and dairy both give us consistent energy and help us save our high sugar guilty pleasures for those moments we want to reward ourselves. - Help others
Sometimes we get so caught up in our own stress and our daily lives that we forget that others in our community and our global community struggle to meet basic needs that we may take for granted. By paying it forward and offering help to those who need it more than we do, we take on a new perspective that can help us reflect on the positive aspects of our lives. - Connect with Supportive Individuals
It can be easy to subscribe to the “hold it together and keep it to yourself” mentality when dealing with stress, but how much better do you feel when you share your feelings and fears about something you’ve been bottling up? Don’t take on the full load of your stress by yourself when there are others around you willing to help you. - Professional Guidance
Talking with our trusted friends and family can offer a sense of comfort in that they know us personally, but sometimes we risk taking on the opinions, wishes, or perspectives of those who mean well for us, which can potentially lead to more stress if their views do not agree with ours. When faced with stress, we often forget that we can also turn to a certified therapist to talk through our situations. Counsellors are an unbiased and professional shoulder to lean on, and they can help us with devising ways to cope with stress that are best for us using the strengths and weaknesses we share with them. Having someone in your corner who is there solely to hear you out can make a world of a difference when it feels like we have hit a wall.
At C.S. Counselling & Consulting Services, we specialize in private couples’ and individual, and family counselling addressing thoughts and emotional health, mood disorders such as depression, anxiety, alcohol and substance abuse, and navigation daily life with a healthy sense of self. We see both call-in and referral clients by appointment and offer services from RSW-registered professionals. At C.S. Counselling & Consulting Services it is our goal to work with you and/or your loved one to provide clarity while developing skills to cope during an otherwise stressful and challenging time.