When life gets out of order and isn’t going our way as planned, then sometimes we are left with worry, disappointment, sadness, resentment, or a combination of these or other mixed emotions. When we express these kinds of emotions, we ultimately end up putting stress not only on our psyche, but on our body as well. Therefore, when this happens, we naturally want to put our lives back into perspective and balance. But where should we start?
If you are currently stressed out and do not know where to start, below are some great tips on relieving stress so that you can get your life back in order.
1. Chat with your friends and/or family
This is the most important and should be very valued. It is nothing better than to sit down with a friend or family member to dish out the problems. Can you imagine being the only person on Earth with nobody to talk to? This would drive me insane. When you are stressed out and you talk to a trusted person about the matters that bother you the most, you can actually feel the release of all the burdened weight that you kept in your head. And you know your friends especially well- every time you speak to them, I guarantee that they are going to crack a joke, but you know you always leave them with a smile.
2. Exercise
Exercise is nature’s way of not only keeping your body in shape, but relieving stress. Exercise naturally decreases stress hormones called cortisol and increases endorphins (the chemicals that make your body feel good). So whether you choose to jog, walk, weight lift, or do another type of exercise routine, the most important thing is just to keep your body busy so you can drop that cortisol.
3. Go see a movie
This is a great idea if you want to provide a distraction from the stresses of your life. Going to that theater to sit in a dark room to watch that huge screen somehow seems to take you away; You just forget your problems in 2 hours. Better to de-stress for 2 hours than to be stressed the whole day.
4. Read a book or magazine
If you want to improve your brain cells and relieve stress at the same time, this is the best choice. Go by your library and check out a book or magazine. You’ll be surprised at how time flies when you’re reading a captivating story and building your smarts.
5. Attend a community function
Every state and/or city has some kind of daily, weekly, or monthly public meeting or activity. When you are helping others and helping your community, you can’t help but to feel good about yourself. Sometimes when we tend to other people’s needs, we put our problems on the backburner because we are trying get their lives back in balance. But what we are ironically doing is helping ourselves to feel great.
6. Play with your pet
When life beats you up, you know that your pet will always lick you up. They don’t complain or criticize- their purpose is to give you companionship and some lovin.’
7. Browse through your photo album
When your whole day just falls down, what I like to do is reflect back to happier memories. Whether you are on the Internet looking at photos of friends or browsing through an old photo album that was stashed away in basement of your house, looking at pictures is always a soothing feeling. By looking at these pictures, you will learn that life is not always about worry. There are still happy times.
8. Keep a journal
Some of us have trouble expressing our thoughts to others and we seek a different outlet. Keeping a daily journal allows you to not only ventilate your frustrations, but it also allows you to examine your daily routine. For example- when we don’t know why things bother us and we write them down, we then can come back to it a different time and read it. This allows us to see a pattern over time of our daily routine and will allow us to break apart our problems and examine what is really bothering us- as if you are almost looking at it from a different perspective.
9. Pray and/or meditate
When words are too heavy to speak, praying or meditating is key to relieving your mind. This is especially effective for people who find that expressing their feeling to others is difficult. Sometimes we all need something or someone to believe in when people are not there.
10. Sleep
Sleeping is the longest and a highly effective stress reliever. When you can’t stop stressing, just make sure you pop into bed at night and shoot for seven to eight hours of sleep. When you do, you are not going to even consciously think about your problems. You might even have a sweet dream or two to get those endorphins pumping and you are going to wake up refreshed and de-stressed.
Now that you have received 10 great ideas for stress relievers, I hope that you find at least one that you might find helpful. Whether you find one helpful or all ten, your goal is to find that one method or a combination of methods that you know will allow you to win back your life.
