Top 10 ways to reduce stress and anxiety

If your work is bothering you, or you find it difficult to strike a balance between your personal and professional life, look no more read our top 10 ways to reduce stress and anxiety irrespective of time, age, and place.

1. Go DEEP: Look for the source

Your day to day activities, habits, and behavior will help in identifying the source of stress and anxiety in your life. It won't be easy to dive deeper and recognize the source. But take a moment, grab a pen and a paper, and observe your patterns for the last few days. Ask yourself when do you feel stressed? Is it when you receive the call from your boss? Or when your work deadline is approaching? Or when a particular person says something and you are unable to respond? Ask yourself, Why? Why are you scared of that person? Can it be changed? Can you communicate your feelings to him/her? Or you find it difficult? Why?

What is the source? Ask yourself.

You can also take help from a friend, a family member, or a professional to guide you in this self-exploratory process.

2. Identify, Accept and Address

Once you have identified the source, it's time to accept and address. Stress can be identified through multiple physical symptoms. It may vary from person to person, but often they emancipate in the form of headaches, chest pains, panic attacks, nausea, fatigue, heart diseases, high blood pressure, irritability, etc.

When you observe such factors seeping in, go back to the first point, and ask what is the trigger? Where is it coming from?

Accept the triggers. Don't cover them with any excuses or unwanted feelings. Accept what you have identified in order to address the root of your problems. Don't run away, take responsibility and start looking for ways that can help you manage stress.

Rewind: Identity, Accept and Address

3. Time Management

For most of us, managing time causes stress. And for some, a lot of time leads to stress. The point being, what are you doing with your time?

Let's assume you have 10 tasks to complete in a day. How will you do it? Plan it out, maybe? I say, realistically plan. You know yourself the best. Be realistic, honest, to help reduce those anxiety attacks. So, 10 tasks a day. Which one is the most difficult? Finish it first, and see your confidence shoot up. The more you start doing it, the happier, content you'll be. Always finish the difficult ones first. This makes your mind feel relaxed, happier, and relieved. If you delegate the difficult ones for the last, you are bound to be nervous and anxious because your brain knows how difficult it is. Try incorporating realistic planning and delegating the most difficult task first to feel how stressless life looks like.

Take it slow, real slow. You are bringing a change in your lifestyle. It won't be easy, but it isn't that difficult. Imagine how amazing your life will be if you could do all your tasks without any headaches, chest pains, high BP because now your stress is in control.

4. Journal, Talk to a Friend, let those feelings out

Journaling is a great way to jot down your thoughts, let everything out on a piece of paper. Once it's out of your system, even random inconsequential things; it's out of your system. You can also talk to a friend, family member, someone you trust, your confidante. Share how you are feeling. Share even if you haven't recognized the source of your anxiety yet. Share. The more you'll talk, the more you'll write, the more you'll ask why, what, where, how, when, the closer you'll be able to the source of your anxiety. You'll be able to tackle the problem because now you know what is causing the problem.

Write everything down, talk your heart out. You can also write to us, schedule a skype call on realshepower@gmail.com We are here to help.

5. Meditate

For most of us, meditation seems like a humongous task. Especially when being quiet, focus on one thing, simply sitting, further causes stress. Here's a thing, when you have to meet a deadline, you're only focussed on meeting the deadline, completing the work. The act of single-minded attention on a particular object, task, work is the act of meditation. You're meditating.

Drinking a glass of water, cooking, taking shower, eating, completing the excel file, etc is meditation if you are doing it with an attentive mind and focussed concentration. Giving your attention to one thing, only one thing is meditation. So, declutter your mind. Do one thing at a time.

Also, remember to breathe. You are alive. Breathe in, Breathe out. Inhale, Exhale. Drink water. Know that you are drinking water. Feel every gulp of that water going inside your body. That's you meditating.

6. Eat Right

Replace your current diet with a healthy nutritious one. Do it for a week. Okay, just for two days. Observe how you are feeling other than your urges to binge on sweets or favorite snacks. See, if you are feeling more active? Are you sleeping less? How is your body feeling? If in two days your mood seems to be better, you think something is shifting then please please continue for a week, a month, and hopefully for the rest of your life.

Include fresh fruits and vegetables, avoid carbs, tea, coffee, junk, salty, or too sugary substances. Often when we fix our eating habits, everything falls in place. Try it, you have nothing to lose.

7. Relax your mind, body, and soul

Re-connect with nature. Walk barefoot on grass. Touch the plants, hug the tree, look up in the sky and be mesmerized by the soothing shades of blue and white, dip your feet in the water, play with mud, run to feel the breeze on your skin when you breathlessly stop. Relax your mind, body, and soul as you re-connect with nature to re-connect with yourself.

Relax.

8. Unwind

At times what we really need is a break. The monotonous routine. Same place, same work, same life often overwhelm us, and we unknowingly get trapped in stress and anxiety. Listen to the music that used to bring a smile, reminding you of a happy memory. Make an appointment at a spa to relax those muscles, let them breathe as you enjoy the massage and the aroma. Call your friends and watch an old film, or a new one, or just chit chat. Laugh out loud with your people. Whatever brings you joy bring that back to your life. A hot cup of coffee and a quiet alone time with your book is my joy. What's yours? Re-Live. You have to unwind and make it a weekly habit.

9. Sleep

7 to 8 hours of sound sleep can reduce your stress drastically. Your body craves for those 8 hours of sound sleep. It needs it. Listen to your body.

Take a hot bath before sleeping, wear soft linen, play light soothing music, read happy thoughts, dim the lights as you slowly let your body relax, and dive into a sound healthy happy sleep.

Are you sleeping well? If not, SLEEP. Correct this one habit and see things change. Sleep.

10. NO

Say no to all the above pointers, or this article, if you think it's not worth it. Or say no to habits that have been draining you down, and you are still reluctant to replace them.

Say no to those get-togethers, party invites, which are a pain to attend, still you comply. Say no to anyone and anything that makes you uncomfortable takes away your peace of mind. Say NO to say YES to yourself.