06/22/2020
MANAGING STRESS 🧠
There’s eustress😁 (the exciting kind) and there’s distress🤯 (fight or flight). Both show up in our jobs, goals, relationships, global events, etc. But we tend to focus on distress and all we want to know is: can I avada kedavra this s**t? And is it appropriate to punch all of the “too blessed to be stressed” hashtaggers? As much as I’d like to say yes to both of those questions, unfortunately it’s a hard no. Luckily we have the power to MANAGE it💪🏽
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The thing is when you suppress what’s stressing you out; it shows up as different ailments. For me, like many it’s ANXIETY. It can be paralyzing in a negative way (many can relate) or in a positive way (like leading up to crush a goal you’re working on).
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SO how can you manage it? Here’s a couple tricks I have:
✨ DEEP BELLY BREATHS: your yoga/meditation instructor isn’t bulls**tting you on this one. When you breath deeply; it calms your PNS and helps lower cortisol levels (the stress hormone) helping you relax.
✨ MOVEMENT: when we sit in our thoughts, stress energetically becomes stagnant within you causing your anxiety to continually rise. Movement and getting your HR up secretes endorphins (your happy hormone) which helps lower stress. So go for a walk, a run, bike, or do some jumping jacks. Whatever movement is for you, do that. Just don’t sit still in your thoughts.
✨TALK IT OUT: grab a close friend, family member and just like movement you need to get that energy flowing out of your body. Talking in a safe space with someone allows you to calm your thoughts. Journaling can be a great tool as well if you’d rather not share with someone.
✨ EXECUTE: whatever it is that’s causing you to be anxious, that’s probably exactly what you need to do. And the time between the thought of doing it and you actually doing it rides out SO long that stress builds over time. So just do the damn thing and see how you feel! Which more often than not is usually the answer to relieve my own stress.
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Calming your thoughts is like working out a muscle — it takes time. Practice these methods the next time you feel stressed! Or hell maybe take a look at what the crowd is doing😉
