Many people get into situations where they feel like stress is dominating their lives. They are unable to relax and truly wind down.
The good news is that there are things you can do to prevent stress from dominating your life. Here are some strategies you may want to follow:
Guard the last hour of the day
One of the best and most researched ways to prevent stress from dominating your life is to guard the last hour of the day. This is where you stop anything stressful from entering your life in the hour before you go to sleep. This is essential because it’s what allows your body to calm down and your heart rate to lower before you finally get the rest you need overnight.
If you don’t do this, then you can feel panicky or burned out. Turn off screens and do something that you know is going to relax you, like read a book or take a hot bath.
Shift from a “what if” mindset to a “what is” mindset
A novel way to prevent stress from dominating your life is to make a move from a “what-if” mindset to a “what-is” mindset. A “what-if” mindset is where your brain constantly cooks up worst-case scenarios and wonders what might happen next. A what-is mindset is where you focus on what is actually happening in your life and what you know right now. If you have a “what-is” mindset, it forces your brain back into reality. You focus on what’s in front of you right now.
Learn to micro-rest during the day
Another way to reduce stress and prevent it from dominating your life is to learn the skill of micro-resting during the day. The idea is to schedule small, deliberate pauses in your workflow so you can reset and then take on the next challenge. If you can change the activity between your rests, that can be even more restorative. For example, you might move from deep work in the morning to calling people or sending emails in the afternoon.
Find natural solutions to stress
If you can, look for natural solutions for stress relief. Many people find that experimenting with herbs or supplements can reduce the baseline level of stress they experience throughout the day, allowing them to focus more on the essential tasks they need to complete.
Your natural solution to stress might be different from somebody else’s. For example, you might want to experiment with essential oils or reduce the amount of inflammatory food in your diet. All of these changes can make a difference.
Edit your calendar
Lastly, it’s a good idea to aggressively edit your calendar. Many people are stressed because they have too much on their plates, not because they don’t know how to manage their time.
I know what this is like personally. Even if you try to cram everything into the day, for some reason you just can’t. When you say yes to everything, it’s a fast track to burnout.
To deal with this issue, start learning to say no to people, even in a corporate setting. You might think that it might harm your chances of climbing the career ladder, but the opposite is often true.
Featured Image: Unsplash – CC0 License
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