If you are anything like me, you can find it almost impossible to relax. Keyword: almost
Welcome to the Walk You Through It Blog where I literally break down things that I've struggled with or am currently struggling with and walk you through what I've done or what I'm doing to move forward.
I've got so much going on between being a father, a fiancé, working for UPS full time as a driver, and working on my coaching business nights and weekends that it can be a tad bit stressful.
Today, I am going to show you how I deal with the stress, worries, and the flood of thoughts flowing through my head at any given moment.
Catch It Early
One of the biggest lessons I've learned is to not let the stress build up. As soon as we realize that we are stressed, we need to stop and deal with it. Letting it build up can be damaging to our life, our relationships, and even our health. The best way to catch it early is to set a daily reminder on our phone to check in with ourselves emotionally and mentally. When the reminder pops up just ask yourself "What is going on with me right now?" "How am I feeling?" and "What do I need in this moment?"
Turn off the notifications
Email. Facebook. Instagram. Snapchat. TikTok. They all have settings to turn the notifications off or at least limit which notifications you receive. You might be thinking what the heck? You just told me to set a reminder on my phone and now you're telling me to turn off notifications. The thing with this is freedom. It's like I'm in control of my phone rather than my phone controlling me. The reminder is something that is advantageous to our goal of being more relaxed. The notifications for social media are something to the opposite effect. I am now free to check those platforms when I see fit. For me, that freedom equals less stress. Try it for a week. Just schedule in some time for social media, email, etc. and see how it goes. If you don't like it, you can always change the settings back.
Meditation
I am a daily meditator... or at least, I try to be. I'm human just like you and there are times where my schedule is so hectic that I have either skipped or forgotten to meditate. Even recently, I went almost a week without meditating and I could feel it. I was very anxious and stressed and realized that I was so caught up in the mundane tasks and obligations of everyday life that I wasn't meditating. I immediately stopped what I was doing and set my timer for 10 minutes. The effect on my internal state was incredible. It made me realize the difference meditation makes.
Meditation can be used two ways when it comes to stress: reactive and proactive. Reactive meditation is what I did in the example I just shared with you where I stopped what I was doing and took some time to close my eyes and focus on my breathing. It's better to be proactive and stay ahead of the stress. If you can take 5 or 10 minutes each morning to just sit and focus on your breath in the morning this will help you prevent super stressful states. You will still find yourself stressed at times even if you meditate each morning. That's when reactive meditation comes in.
Take a Hike
Literally, go for a walk in nature. I find that whenever my fiancée and I go for a walk it is very calming. The key here is to pay attention to the world around you. The more present and in the moment you are, the better. Pay attention to the sounds, the smells, the colors. Feel the air on your skin.
You can practice being present wherever you are but there's something about being in nature that is calming and allows us to de-stress more easily. Remember, we evolved over thousands and thousands of years living in nature, so it's only natural (pun intended) that we feel more relaxed in that environment.
And don't forget to journal.
This is the main thing that helps me when I'm stressed and have a million thoughts zinging through my brain. I grab my journal and just start writing. It doesn't even need to make sense. Just write out your thoughts stream of consciousness style. I won't go into all the details about the benefits of journaling in this post but what I will say is that it will help you get those thoughts out of your head and onto paper. My preferred method is physical handwriting with a pen in a composition notebook. If you're not doing this my friend, I highly recommend it. There's power in writing things down.
Thank you so much for reading. I'll catch you next Sunday. - Rob Stanish
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