Feeling Stressed? Here's 11 things you can do right now!

With the busy lives almost all of us lead today, it’s no wonder we feel stressed.  Stress can have many effects on both one’s physical and mental well being. When we are under stress we sleep less, are more likely to develop depression, and have poorer relationships; just to name a few.  Nobody wants to feel stress and everyone wants to feel at peace. Here’s a list of some of the ways you can use to find relief and reduce the feeling of stress.

1. Meditate

Taking some time to sit quietly and draw your focus away from your stressors can be super effective in alleviating stress.  When you allow yourself to let go of the worries and thoughts that plague your mind, it’s no wonder you will feel lighter and less stressed.

Want to try meditation?  Start here for a simple beginner’s guide or here to learn more about the different types of meditation you can try.

2. Stretch

Get your limbs nice and limber!  We don’t always notice it but when we’re under a lot of pressure we tend to hold the stress in our bodies.  Sometimes we have a tension in our shoulders or maybe a furrowed brow. Take a few moments to reach your arms up over your head, give yourself a twist, and feel the tension melt out of your body.  When we acknowledge where we feel stress we can become more aware and help to catch ourselves as we become stressed.

3. Get some sun

Vitamin D can be surprisingly more powerful than you might think a vitamin can be.  When you’re experiencing low vitamin D, you might feel tired or sick, have muscle pain, or feel depressed.  Maybe you can’t just sit under the sun until your discomfort is solved but you could opt for a vitamin supplement and a short walk during your lunch break.  Just make sure to bring your sunscreen!

4. Eat a healthy snack

Food is always something that can make your day better.  Although reaching for sweets might be your first instinct when you feel stressed, it’s important to choose something that will not only make you feel good now but that will also be good in the long run.  By picking a healthy snack, like a piece of fruit or some veggies, we can also work to encourage other healthy choices not only in our diets.

5. Find a creative outlet

Maybe you’re not an artist or maybe you are, regardless having an avenue in which that you can express yourself without any expectations can be helpful to your stress level.  Maybe drawing or painting or even something as simple as a coloring book can be used to help relieve stresses.

6. Talk to a friend

Having a support system in one of the single best things you can do for your mental health.  It’s so important to know that you’re not alone in what you’re going through. Just simply calling up a friend or family member can do so much to boost your mood because it gives you a place where you can talk about your feeling and help get them off your chest.  If you don’t feel as though you have someone in your immediate life to talk to there’s plenty of online chat rooms and forums where you can meet people who you will be able to relate to.

7. Have a technology free hour

I think most of us would be taken aback to learn just how much of an affect our technology has on the way we’re feeling.  Constantly checking for new emails, new updates, and all the seemingly endless things our phones can do for us may seem like a blessing but in most of those cases the emails are from our bosses, the updates happen overwhelming too often, and we are always connected to some sort of stress.  Putting down and turning our technologies off can do wonderful things for our stress level. Disconnecting from technology can mean disconnecting from many different causes of stress.

8. Play with a pet

I can’t imagine that there’s too many people that would not feel better after hanging out with a little fuzzy animal.  If you don’t have pets yourself you can always see a friend with one, go to a petstore, or volunteer at an animal shelter.  The energy that animals have are always enough to lift someone’s spirits.

9. Write it out

It’s no doubt that writing out our feelings is a healthy way to release them but not only can journaling help to release emotions but it can also be used to train yourself to find more positives.  We can write about the things that bothered or upset us but we can also use a gratitude practice to strength the good aspects of our day too.

10. Read a book

Have you been to busy to start that book that’s maybe been sitting on your shelf for longer than you’d like to admit?  Whether you’re reading a story book to escape or a one to advance your knowledge, reading gives us the ability to focus on something outside ourselves.  Most of us probably don’t read often enough so what’s a better time than right now?

11. Clean your space

Maybe you thought your cluttered desk was a sign of genius in the making but nobody really likes to be overwhelmed by a mess.  Cleaning up your space, whether it's your house or your desk, can help you to organize your mind as well. It’s always helpful to know where everything is and that it will be there when you come to needing it.  Nothing is more distracting than looking for something and spending all your time trying just to find it.

When you’re feeling down the best thing you can do for yourself is to acknowledge the feeling and let it go.  By separating yourself from your negative emotions, you are able to see the situation better for what it is. The main goal of all of the techniques listed above are designed to get you out of your own head.  Stress can be debilitating but using healthy coping mechanisms we can lessen the strain it puts on our wellbeing.