7 Brilliant Ways To Relieve Stress That You Need To Know Now

How To De-stress Yourself And Lead A Blissful Life!

The year 2020 has been a life-changing year for most of us. The year seemed long, uncertain and sometimes out of a SciFi movie. The stress levels have been fluctuating between normal to high, with some days being worse than the others. We all are in the same storm but with different realities. And hence our ways of coping with stress may differ.

{Please note, my content may contain affiliate links for products I use and love. If you take action(i.e. subscribe or make a purchase after clicking on one of these links, I’ll earn a small commission, This helps support the blog & allows me to create more helpful content for you. Thank you for your support!}

What is Stress?

Do we know what Stress is ? As per my definition, stress is usually an output of any unexpected event around us. This event sends out signals to our mind and body that something unpleasant is going to happen & thus our mind and/or body react.

The event can be as trivial as internet not working when we are in the middle of a webinar or as severe as the health of a loved one.

Sometimes stress is also caused by a known event & we get anxious in anticipation of things going wrong. We, humans, tend to think negative consequences first and hence many times invite stress in our lives.

Well, I am a part of the same breed and being a Virgo does not help a bit. As per my family, I even get stressed if the bedsheet is not tucked in properly (or rather the way I want it to be done).

So as a working mom (Yes, you are working irrespective of home or office), I am always anxious to do my best for my family and at work. And as life would have it, sometimes things don’t work out the way I want … resulting in a lot of stress.

So what are my stress busters ? Read on to find out more:

How To Lead A Blissful Life With These 7 Stress-Relief Tips

1. Have an Exercise Routine

For me, this had been one of the most effective stress relief mechanisms. Any form of exercise is known to release endorphins (or happy hormones). Endorphins are known to elevate the mood &  improve overall well-being. If nothing else, it just takes your focus away from the current situation or a person causing stress and gives both of you a break.

If you are not a heavy-duty exercise person, even going out for a walk helps to sort your thoughts peacefully. Listen to some soothing music or podcast of your favourite speaker. Spending time with nature is therapeutic especially when your mind is disturbed.

If you are a Yoga person like me, deep breathing & meditation can become your mantra for stress relief. Keep practising this in between your calls or when you are feeling you are getting overwhelmed and feel the change.

For the uninitiated here are two blogs that will help you get started.

How To Find Motivation To WorkOut When You Are Busy

7 Reasons Why This Is the Best Time To Adopt Yoga

2. Have a Self-Care Routine

At the end of a long day, get your MOJO back with a self-care routine that works for you.

During the workweek, it’s almost impossible to take out time to pamper yourself with a luxurious Spa massage or a prolonged shower with aroma candles & music. Any typical workday evening is like a circus only difference being here you are the juggler. You are trying to balance your time between the finishing of your last set of urgent emails or tasks and listening to your over-enthusiastic kids. In my case, I have 2 teen daughters who want to share all the good and bad that happened to them during the day.

And then you have to manage the house, grocery, what to cook for dinner … general everyday predictable things which mange to stress you out every single day.

At that time, you just want to stop the world and say ‘Wait… let me gear up for this”. It’s time for Self-help rather than Self-Stress.

Take a pause and don’t plunge into the next set of “deliverables” immediately. Re-charge yourself doing things which relax your mind so that you can think rationally and logically. Then move towards your next set of to-dos.

I have my favourite Self-Care Rituals which I try to follow every day. These become all the more relevant in today’s time when many of us are working from home. The line between office & home has blurred & there is the additional stress of balancing the two the whole day rather than only a few hours.

A key part of Self-Care is also indulging in something that we like. It may like dancing, reading or simply having a coffee date with our friends. Let’s ensure we do not neglect these under the pretext of no time. Lets make time for self-indulgence and self-love.

Remember Self-Care is not Selfish and practicing this everyday helps build your stress relief mechanism in the long run.

You can gift Self-care too to someone who needs it the most. Click here for some amazing Self Care gifts for yourself and your loved ones.

But this alone may not help. You need to do more.

3. Practice Living in the Present

Most of our stress comes from the fact that we keep on ruminating the past or keep worrying about the future. In all these, we forget to enjoy what we have and the people we are with.

Practising living in the present though not easy is not impossible either. It just takes a conscious effort from our side. My husband and I believe in the Flag Post theory Approach for living in the present.  This approach allows us to bucketize our lives into small milestones and celebrate each milestone to the fullest. Read this amazing approach here.

4. Seek Help For Stress

Many of us prefer to keep all our fears, anxieties and tension inside us and don’t like to share with anyone. But that is not a healthy state to be in. Reach out to anyone whom you are comfortable with – your friends, mentor or a family member. If you are not comfortable with someone you know, reach out to a Coach. (Learn about the Benefits of Coaching here).

Most of the times, all answers are within us and talking with someone helps us put our problem in perspective.

When we re-state our source of stress to another person, we are listening to ourselves & while doing so, we may realise three things:

• We are exaggerating the issue to cause unnecessary stress.
• There are more like us and so we are not alone
• The solution is right in front of us, but we are too blinded by the problem to see it.

Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help & brave enough to ask for it. I have done this multiple times and have never been disappointed

5. Try to Create Something

Believe me, this is my biggest learning this year and helped me overcome some stressful situations. I always believed that creativity is inborn, and I was not creative. Until I tried….

You can be creative in anything – be it work, cooking, parenting, gardening, home management, teaching, just about anything apart from the conventional stuff of creating a piece of ART.

And it’s the best recipe to Live in the present and forget about any thoughts that are bothering you.

Here is how Creativity modified my Lifestyle and helped me manage Stress.

6. Have a Pet

I am a new entrant to the pet owners club and was certainly a reluctant one. My husband had always had pets before our marriage (which is 20+ years). I had some experience when I came to his family, but that was short-lived as our dog expired due to illness.

And since then, I had opposed pets as I felt that there was too much work & responsibility involved in raising a pet. I was not ready for it then and for a long time after that. After 22 years and 2 teenage daughters, I finally agreed to keep a pet. This was after getting a commitment to shared responsibility.

I feel the moment we got “CoCo” in our house, the whole house was filled with positive energy and laughter. And these were the days we were all locked up in our house. His presence just lightened up the atmosphere and help release the tension of online classes and online meetings.

 According to the Cleveland Clinic, just petting an animal can boost your serotonin and dopamine levels, and a 2016 survey of 2,000 pet owners, conducted by the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) revealed 74% of them experienced mental health improvements from owning a pet.

We stay together as a family with my husband’s parents who are both 85 plus and I have experienced the change in them after getting Coco in the house.

According to Sandra Baker, PhD, director of the Centre for Human-Animal Interaction at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, hanging out with a dog after a stressful event greatly reduces our cortisol levels and possibly buffers the impact of the event. 

Therefore having a pet is a sure shot stress relief therapy.

7. Only I can Heal Myself

I recently went through a course on Ho’oponopono. This is an ancient practice of forgiveness, transformation and transmutation from Hawaii, which heals us by deleting the memories and data from within us that creates dis-harmony within us.

To put this simply, our thoughts have the power to transform our lives and what we think becomes our reality. Therefore we have the power to reduce our stress levels by speaking these 4 magical statements which make us take the complete responsibility of the way we are feeling.

It’s been only a few days since I have started this practice, and I can already feel the difference in me and the people around me ..especially my pet.

If you would like to know more about this healing technique click here.

I have learnt that there is no instant stress reliever. And as much as one tries, one cannot avoid getting disturbed by what’s happening around us. But the key is how soon we can overcome this feeling get the situation back in our control.

“ The most powerful weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. Train your mind to see the good in this day”- Marcandangel

If any of these stress coping mechanisms resonate with you , please share with your family and friends.

If you would like to be a part of my tribe, please do subscribe to my Newsletter.

How To Reduce Stress In life Using These 7 Amazing Tips!

---