Reduce Stress!

The Goal:  Reduce stress for one day
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This doesn’t have to be something big, and this isn’t meant to be something to add more stress!  Just pick one day out of the month.  Choose a day to reduce the number of appointments, obligations, and tasks.  While you go about this day and fulfill the tasks, try to weave in ways that will help reduce your stress.  This may look different for you than others, and that’s okay!  This is just a place to start to help you on your journey to wellness.  Stress, especially chronic stress, starts to feel normal and familiar.  This always ‘on’ feeling or drive to be busy 24/7 is unhealthy.  Stressed-out women are praised for having a good work ethic but find when they are frantic doing twenty things at a time they get exhausted quickly.  This common obstacle gives us an illusion of being important, valued, wanted, or needed, and can fill our ego.  We must first acknowledge the ego and comfort ourselves with the truth that our well-being is what gives us the ability to help others.  If we get sick, our ability and capacity to help others quickly becomes the opposite.  Instead, we become a burden on our family and friends.  Dying young because you worked yourself to death doesn’t help your family.  In fact, Gabor Maté has a lecture you can watch (included in September's monthly Wellness Letter) where he reads obituaries that praise the workaholics even after they passed, when if they had taken time to rest, they may have lived much longer.  We are looking at the long-term gain so taking a day out of the month to deeply rest your mind and body will be a step in the right direction.  It may feel awkward and different.  That is good.  It is a way to reset our normal pace to something more sustainable and healthy.  


How Stress Works:
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Stress is neither good nor bad.  It is a part of our daily lives.  In our ancient human history, stress was often from physical threats of danger.  Things like bears, human conflict, nature, and such.  These acute stresses came and went relatively quickly.  Once it was no longer in front of you, you did not hear about it again.  No TV or instant replay.  The body is adapted to face this stress, adjust for our survival, and then return to a stable, calm space.  However, in modern times, these stressors never go away.  They are never conquered.  We can’t fight, flight, or freeze effectivity from the text next week, job review, or fear-based article we just read or watched.  They are sometimes called paper tigers because they look and feel real to our body’s ancient threat response system, but they will not really kill us.  So, the stress chemicals build up in our body all day long and don’t return to normal unless we actively process them.  This causes sleep, gut pain, and mental health issues, to name a few.  Some studies link up to 70% of medical illnesses to stress-related causes.  See the book recommendation below if you are interested in learning more about this.  So, let’s take a day this month and actively try to reset our stress levels.  

How to Combat Stress:

Remember that this may look different for everyone, but in general, it may be helpful to try to understand where the stress is coming from in order to reduce it.  

1- Is your to-do list enormously long?  Try prioritizing just the top 3 things.  (Use a sticky note to help you limit the number of items).
2- Focus on one thing at a time.  You may find yourself more productive when you focus on one task at a time instead of overwhelming yourself with the length of your to-do list.  
3- Try taking breaks every hour or two by expanding your breaths, practicing guided meditations, walking in nature, and refocusing on your short task list.   
4-  Reduce judgemental thoughts:  Do you get frustrated with yourself when you feel you don’t measure up to your high standard of productivity?  It’s understandable to feel that way.  Try to have patience with yourself.  Just take one day and allow yourself to relax without the nagging pressure of your lengthy list, time constraints, or obligations to others.  You can even write a permission slip or schedule a time later to consider any judgments that come up. 


Set the Day Apart:
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Some other ideas about setting this day apart from others are doing a special routine in the morning to start your day and one at the end to finish the day.  Consider the following ideas:

• Start your day in meditation to slowly bring awareness to the stress you may be feeling.  This awareness can guide your next steps to reduce the body’s reactive responses. 
• Using heat, such as in a warm bath or sauna, can help regulate the body’s response system to stress.  You can also use a change in environment to help you focus on your rest.  Spending time outside, or at a retreat may help.
• Instead of remembering past events or focusing on the next task, try to be aware of the present moment.  

Time to Reflect:
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At the end of your day, take time to reflect.  Be mindful of your thoughts, and emotions.  Did you notice any difference compared to the stress of your usual day?  Did you get better sleep at the end of it?  Did you feel happier?  Did your food taste better?  What was different?  Did you get your desired results?  Why?