Let’s face it, we all suffer from stress at one point in our life, in fact, many of us feel stressed on a daily (or even hourly!) basis. However, the good news is that we can learn to manage our stress, before it manages us!

Within this article, I would like to share with you my top tips for learning to deal with stress. Remember, stress will always be evident in our life, but we do have a choice how we react to it.

So what is stress really? A good definition is that ‘Stress is an emotionally disruptive or upsetting condition which occurs in response to a situation’.

NOTE: The stress is not the situation, but your response to it!

Everyone responds to stress in a different way and stress triggers will be different for everyone. The degree of stress in your life and your ability to cope with stress will depend on your personality type, your health, mood, belief system, your attitude and whether you are having a good day or not!

I am sure it is no surprise that stress has an effect on our body and some of the more common side effects can be :

• Lack of concentration
• Insomnia and fatigue
• Irritability
• Stomach upset
• Feeling fuzzy
• Dry Mouth

In it interesting that when we feeling stressed out, we often blame the person who we perceive has caused the stress or the stressful situation we are in. However, as previously mentioned, we can learn to manage our stress, before it manages us!

Here are a few of my top tips for reducing stress:

1) If you are born worrier, write your worries down and get them out of your body. Long term stress can cause dis-ease in your body. Another helpful tip is to tell yourself that you can only worry between the hours of 4pm and 4.30pm. I guarantee by that time you will have forgotten what you were even worrying about!

2) Know your boundaries – Learn to say No!!! We often cause our own stress by being a people pleaser and doing too much. Then we spend our time stressing that we are too busy! If you have a habit of saying yes when you really mean no, challenge yourself to say NO at least 3 times in the next week.

3) Give up trying to be perfect. NOBODY is perfect and you are setting your expectations too high if you expect to be. Give yourself a break and learn that it is ok to be average sometimes. Also, remember that mistakes require correction, not punishment!

4) Know your priorities – You are the author of your own diary. If you diary is too busy, take steps to reduce it! It is up to you!

5) Take time to relax and breathe. Your body is like a car, if you run it without fuel it will break down. So stop regularly to relax and refuel.

6) Get some exercise – even ten minutes a day will help. Get off the bus 1 stop earlier or use the stairs instead of the lift.

7) Affirm ‘ I handle stress easily’ 10 times a day.

8) Work off your anger. If you are angry, get it out of your body. Write it down, beat the bed with pillows or scream. I guarantee you will feel much better and your body with thank you for it.

9) Plug into positivity. When you wake up in the morning, instead of plugging into how bad your day will be, plug into positivity and be grateful that you are even alive!

10) Accept that stress is part of your life and accept that you can’t control most things so surrender to them and let go.

TAKE ACTION

1) Write down three top stress triggers in your life and commit to taking action to manage them in a better way.

Have a stress free week!

Lisa