10 Daily Habits to Relieve Stress
You know those moments when you just want to rip your hair out?!?…yes, that’s stress and she is a b*tch! Deep breaths, stress is a common occurrence in life and you have to learn how to deal with it when it comes…and do what you can to prevent it. In this post, discover 10 EASY daily habits to reduce and relieve stress!
What is Stress and How to Relieve it?
Everyone has or will experience stress at some point in their life and many of us experience it on a daily. Stress is the feeling of being overwhelmed or unable to cope with mental or emotional pressure. It is that ugly feeling when your skin is crawling and it seems like at any moment you’re just going to explode. When you’re stressed the f*ck out, anything and EVERYTHING irks you and you feel so overwhelmed that you’re mentally and emotionally incapable of putting anything else on your plate. When you are stressed, even the smallest inconveniences will set you over the edge and can set off a breakdown.
If it makes you feel any better, you are not the only one who goes through stress as it DOES NOT discriminate and pays a visit to absolutely EVERYONE! The good thing is, stress is a mindset and you can ALWAYS shift your mindset!
10 Ways to Relieve Stress
Here are 10 ways to kick stress’s ass and take control of your mindset and well-being! Try your very best to incorporate all or most of these tips and activities into your daily. Remember, you are the ONLY one who can help yourself so it is up to YOU to take control and make the choice and the time for your mental health and wellness!
1. Nourish Your Body
Your physical well-being is extremely important to take care of as a healthy body is able to respond better to stress hormones. Simply, eat healthily and exercise daily to show your body some much-needed TLC. I know some of you are rolling your eyes so let me explain why this is important. Your body loves you so much…you can literally keep it going for a long ass time with shitty food, stress, no sleep, etc. and it will work overtime to keep you alive and kicking. It’s so important to show your body that you appreciate all it does for you and give it love by cleaning up your diet and keeping active. Kicking your day off by doing some light exercise and having a nutritious breakfast is great motivation for a productive, positive, and peaceful day!
This doesn’t take as much effort as you think. For example, I go on a simple 30-minute walk around my neighborhood then do 7-10 minutes of strengthening exercises. After my workout, I have a nice big green smoothie packed with spinach, berries, chia seeds, chocolate protein powder, cinnamon, and nut milk. Easy and fast! I get sunlight, exercise, and nutrients within an hour of waking up…try it!
2. Get Enough Sleep
The body’s hormones go wild when you don’t get adequate sleep and this makes it close to impossible to feel good and empowered! Making sure you are well-rested, energized, and ready to take on the day is a must for high vibes and calm energy. The rule of thumb is 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night for an energized day…play with this number and adjust it to what is right for you.
3. Meditate
Simply, meditation is a mental exercise that strengthens your awareness, mindfulness, and higher consciousness. Typically, meditation is practiced to help deepen the understanding of life and its transcendent forces. Meditation can also be practiced to reduce stress, relieve anxiety, and improve emotional wellbeing. Regular practice of meditation has been scientifically proven to reduce age-related memory loss, help fight addictions, improve sleep, help control pain, and decrease blood pressure. Since meditation improves your overall well-being, it also improves the quality of your thoughts! Meditate daily so that you are always at peace and positive!
CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON MEDITATION!
4. Practice Gratitude
Gratitude is the emotion of being thankful, showing appreciation, and returning kindness. Being grateful is a beautiful and harmonious way to live as it attracts more love, happiness, and abundance into your life. When you are grateful it opens up your eyes and heart to acknowledge your blessings and diminishes the feeling of stress and negativity!
Every day take time to say what you are grateful for and fully feel the emotions that come with it. It is important to vocalize your gratitude as hearing yourself say what you feel attracts a more powerful feeling. You can do this first thing in the morning, before bed, in the car, etc. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter when you do it just as long as you fucking do it and stay consistent!
CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON GRATITUDE!
5. Practice Yoga
First and foremost, yoga is a mental, physical, and spiritual exercise. This exercise consists of low-impact physical activity such as holding postures called asanas, breathing techniques called pranayama, and meditation. The goal of yoga is to achieve complete harmony and balance with your mind, body, and soul. Yoga has been proven to significantly reduce and/or relieve anxiety, depression, and stress. 10 minutes a day is all it takes to reap the incredible benefits of this relaxing exercise!
My Favorite Yoga Apps
Yoga For Beginners | Mind+Body | This is by far my favorite app as it is perfect for beginners and quick sessions. It offers different sequences that focus on different areas of the body and types of relaxation. Hands down- best app for beginners!
Yoga For Beginners | Down Dog | This app is awesome as it focuses on following your breath during the session. This is a great app for beginners who would like to track and build their progress. Essentially, the more you practice the more levels and sessions you unlock.
Lotus | Yoga And Meditation | This app offers over 500 different sessions for different levels and time limitations. This is a great app for those who want to practice a new sequence regularly and expand their practice.
CLICK HERE FOR 7 YOGA POSES THAT REDUCE STRESS AND ANXIETY!
6. Laugh More
I know this is cheesy but having a good hard laugh regularly really does shift your mindset. It has been proven that laughter strengthens your immune system, boosts mood, lessens pain, and protects you from the effects of stress. Laughter releases endorphins and as you very well may know, “endorphins make you happy”. Endorphins are the body’s natural feel-good chemicals, by the way.
7. Journal
Journaling is a wonderful way to reduce, manage, and cope with anxiety, depression, and/or stress. It can also help you gain clarity on a problem, fear, and/or concern. Keeping a mood and health journal allows you to track triggers and symptoms. It can also help identify negative habits that need personal improvement as journaling promotes self-reflection.
Most of the time, the negative thoughts and emotions we have don’t really have any meaning…it’s just the anger and frustration coming out in an unhealthy way because we can’t express our unfiltered thoughts using a healthy outlet. When you are able to unload your unfiltered thoughts you can then release the negativity that is festering within you. All in all, journaling is a great way to take control of your thoughts, emotions, and intentions because it allows you to unload ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING going on in your head!
CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON JOURNALING!
8. Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the state of being completely present and fully aware of yourself, your surroundings, and what you are doing. To live mindfully refers to living in the present, rather than dwelling on the past or anticipating the future. In other words, mindfulness is being aware of your physical and emotional senses without self-criticism or judgment. It is scientifically proven that mindfulness can dramatically improve your health in ways such as helping relieve stress, treating heart disease, lowering blood pressure, reducing chronic pain, improving sleep, and alleviating gastrointestinal difficulties.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON MINDFULNESS!
9. Set and Maintain Boundaries
Setting boundaries is something that is very personal and unique to everyone…my boundaries will not be the same as yours, so understanding your boundaries is important because this will set the tone of what you will allow in your life! In order to start setting boundaries, you must first come to understand what YOU feel is toxic for YOUR mental health and overall well-being, then set a limit of just how far you’re able to go (not only with yourself but with others), and lastly, stick true to that boundary and don’t move that line for ANYONE!! When you set and stick to a boundary you are showing yourself self-love, self-respect, and self-worth…just remember, it is okay to say no and put yourself first!
10. Daily Self-Care
In order to live a beautiful stress-free life filled with happiness and love, you have to love and care for yourself. If you are someone who puts others first, you have to get in the habit of putting yourself first from time to time. It is awesome to be selfless but how can you give your best to others if you can’t even give the best to yourself? That’s right…you can’t! In order to give your best to others, you have to give the best to yourself; you must keep your ENTIRE being healthy and balanced! Your entire being means your physical body, your spiritual body, your emotions, your mind, your social life, and your sensory wellness; ALL these areas need to be shown love and care in order for them to communicate, connect, and function positively with each other!
Final Thoughts
The most important thing to remember about stress is that it can come creeping back so maintaining positive habits is the key to keeping stress at bay! You totally got this!