Stress Management

Stress... it is spoken about more times than I can count and it seems as though more and more of us cannot seem to handle stress anymore in an "easier" world. Let me explain why I believe this to be true and what I do to manage stress as best I can.

For starters, stress is relative. Some people had it easy growing up and now these humans are adults facing stress for the first time and they cannot handle it... It is simply because they were never taught how to manage stress as a child. This does not mean suppress all your emotions and pretend like everything is fine. Optimism and pessimism are both "real" feelings.

Secondly, we live in a world where, the whole world is in your hands via technology. It never turns off and you are always connected... this is a problem. Our primal brains cannot handle this much stimulation yet we are forcing it day in and day out. Get off your phone and go outside. (Tip #1)

Third... Stress to me is emotional. When something inconvenient happens to us, we immediately have 2 choices. 1. Freak out... that might help for about 10 seconds but it does not eliminate what is going on in front of you. 2. Accept the inconvenience as an opportunity to rise about the issue and not let it control you.

To those who read that and say, "you just don't understand, it's not that easy..." my response is, it can always be worse. You have to understand that phrase. Once you open your mind to the realities of almost ALL of earth and how hard people actually have it, your flat tire or slow grocery line or traffic or late amazon package become trivial compared to those who have no water, electric, civil rights or freedoms period.

Now that I got that off my chest, here are my tips to managing stress:

1. Exercise daily. I do not care if that means walk, jog, lift weights, at home, in the gym etc. Just MOVE. Subject yourself to some slight challenge (physical stress) and you will start to see a mental shift in your ability to handle stress. Don't believe me? Cool, prove me wrong by challenging yourself for at least 90 days of exercise and after those 3 months, if you still lose your marbles off something small, I will be wrong.

2. Eat clean. What you put in your face matters. Get off the fast food, drink less sugar/alcohol and your mind will become more clear, making it a little easier to manage life challenges.

3. SLEEP. Some of you get no sleep and it shows. If you can't sleep well and you think it is because that is jus the way you are, go see a doctor and get a sleep study done AND check all of your habits. Are you on your phone for hours before bed? Do you watch hours of screen time before bed? Do you eat like a trash panda? (racoon) Assess ALL of your habits and you will notice that a lot of what you do, does not help your brains ability to manage stress.

4. Lean on God. Pray for the strength to get through today. It may not work immediately but it will over time.

5. "Fake it till you make it" I do this still.. there will be something going on that is stressing me out and I will initially pretend internally like it's all good, knowing full well that I am stressed. After a few minutes I start to realize that the issue is not worth stressing over.

At the end of the day, you must learn to endure what you cannot control and TAKE CONTROL of what you can change. How you speak, eat, move, sleep, think and react are ALL on you. Try out my tips and let me know if they do not work. If you want more tips/explanations, I am always here. Be Even Better today.