This is a sponsored post for Wagner Health
I am one of those people that can get quite overwhelmed, frazzled and stressed. I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said that it can creep in each day in some shape, size or form. The thing about stress is that it can build up and happen slowly and gradually, or sometimes really quickly, like BANG, just like that. It may be the most stupid of stupid things that pushes you right over the edge; you snap, yell, or just have an overreaction to the most mundane thing.
But it is totally normal. It happens to most of us.
I put the concept of stress in with the normality of motherhood, parenthood, working individual, wife, daughter, friend and juggling it all at once. It happens. It is the difference of how one manages stress that can make or break that little being inside. Or sometimes not managing it at all.
Managing stress is about taking care of yourself. Managing your emotional and physical wellbeing is not something to be ignored. So what can you do?
1 Prioritise what is important to you
We always talk about “not having enough hours in the day”, and often we are right. We are forever trying to finish one thing while starting another and completing something else at the same time. Forever in a rush to be somewhere. Ask yourself what matters to you? What is important to you? Make that the priority of each day.
2 Know when you need to take time out
Whether it is taking yourself off to your room, or to the shower or even to the laundry to have that little “time out”, know when you need to. Trust that the children will be okay for five minutes, dinner can wait, everything else can wait while you have a moment of solitude, release of emotion, a cry, scream or a bash of your bed pillow.
3 Practice mindful breathing
It is not meditation but mindful breathing, the process of slowing down your breathing while noticing your breath, your body and your responses. Being in the presence and just noticing. You could even do this while cooking this dishes. Just breath, slow, and notice.
4 Give yourself permission
To have a bath, to go for a walk, to have an afternoon off… whatever it is, know that it is okay to have time to yourself and moments to yourself. For without these moments, your stress levels, anxiety and claustrophobia may only exacerbate.
5 Stop controlling everything
There are things you can control and there are things you can’t. Evaluate these differences. Much of our stress and anxiety comes from the feeling of being out of control and helpless, even in situations that we know we can’t control. Identify the stressors in your life that you can’t control and the ones you can.
6 Identify your action plan
Only you know what you need when you are stressed. For me, I go for a run. An instant fix of adrenaline, calorie burning, music pumping and no distraction is the perfect de-stress for me. I come home more refreshed, clear and energised.
7 Know when to walk away
You say it to our kids all the time – “just walk away” – but do you implement the same wise words to yourself?
8 Embrace failures and mistakes
They happen. They are inevitable, for you and your children. With the knowledge and perception that failure is okay, and necessary, the stress of failure can be eliminated.
9 Learn to say no.
A friend told me last night, “I don’t say no enough”. She is stressed. She is overwhelmed. She knows she needs to say ‘no’ more often but has this feeling of obligation to others. Set up some boundaries. Know what your limitations are. And know that saying ‘no’ does not make you less of a person, but rather the opposite.
Stress is inevitable. It will happen. It will walk in at some point during your life, day, or week. But the key to any stress management is to acknowledge you are feeling stressed, noticing it, and tackling it head on. Don’t ignore it. Don’t let it build up inside where it then gets worse and worse.
If you want to be a little bit more creative and daring, you can also take a stress test, a simple quiz to test how stressed you actually are. And by doing so, you go in the running to win a holiday for 2 to Gwinganna health retreat or 1 of 10 Endota Spa vouchers, the perfect package to truly unwind, relax and bring your stress levels down.
What’s in your stress management tool box?
