5 Things You Must Do When You’re Feeling Stressed

There is no denying I’ve been feeling pretty stressed, although the last couple of days I’ve been feeling really good again. Yay.

I’m kinda scared to admit to feeling good again in case I jinx myself and feel stressed again. Lolz. It’s crazy how my mind works I swear.

Anyway, I’d been feeling super stressed with relocating and overwhelmed by the sheer amount of packing and things that I need to do before we move.

Now I’m feeling better I wanted to share with you what I did to get back to feeling good.

5 THINGS TO DO WHEN YOU’RE FEELING STRESSED

1) Listen To Something Inspiring

You need something positive when you’re feeling anxious. I started listening to inspiring talks on YouTube and motivational videos whilst doing chores. That way I felt productive which enabled me to feel less stressed and I was lifting my mood too.

Podcasts are great when you’re in the car. I’ve not really into audibles or podcasts as much I’ll admit. YouTube tends to be my go-to. My faves change every month depending on how I’m feeling. Recently I’ve been loving listening to talks/speeches from Oprah. I’m a big fan of Brene Brown too.

If you’re into the law of attraction then an Abraham-hicks sasm!x is great.  Albeit totally weird, but somehow it works to cheer me up. I find myself giggling at bits I relate to and other bits I’m like WTF is she talking about, but I notice shifts in my mood after listening to various Abraham-Hicks sasm!x videos on YouTube.

2) Write It All Down

I wrote a blog post,  a post that I probably won’t be able to publish anytime soon if ever (update, I did share it almost a year later, click here) due to the personal content contained within the post, but after, I felt a weight had been lifted.

Writing down everything on your mind and brain dumping on paper (or simply on your phone) does wonders for getting things off your chest. Sometimes we just need to get it all out. Once upon a time, people used to keep diaries. People tend not to these days and we probably should. There is something very therapeutic about letting in all-out, completely unfiltered. Just for you.

3) Recognise The Trigger

This one goes hand in hand with writing it all out. I thought I was just stressed with moving, but when I wrote it all out I was able to recognise that there was much more to it than that. From really getting to the root of my stress, I was then able to reflect and see things for what they were. More importantly, I started realising what I needed to do going forward.

If you don’t want to write it all down then simply ask yourself over and over again “what is really stressing me out” and be really honest with yourself. More often than not there is a lot more to our stress than we realise ourselves. I find stress generally goes hand in hand with fear or insecurity than we need to work on. Find the trigger. Do the internal work.

4) Up Self-Care

Now is the time, more than ever to make time for self-care. I know, I know, when we are stressed we feel like we really don’t have the time, but see if you don’t take the time you’ll burn out and be forced to make time. It’s always best to voluntarily do self-care than getting to the point where you have no choice but to rest because you’ve made yourself ill.

I not talking about taking heaps of time for self-care. I’m talking 10 minutes of positive reading before bed. A short workout. A healthy lunch or putting on your favourite facemask and painting your toenails. Something that says I’ve made time for me today.

5) Compassion

You need to take it a little easier on yourself. Practise some self-compassion and stop beating yourself up. Everything will work out. Whatever negative story you’re telling yourself then flip it and tell yourself a new story. Repeat a positive mantra. Be kind to yourself.

Nothing will change in a negative state of mind and you can’t change your state of mind unless you show yourself some love. So write down all the things your grateful for, all the lessons you’ve learnt, the moments you laughed so hard you cried and focus your attention on everything you’ve done right. They’ll be plenty, you just have to remember to pay attention to it.

A positive state comes from spending time focusing attentively on all of the beauty around you. If you just remember to look, beauty is always there.

Be loving to you! x

This post is part of my Wellness Wednesday weekly feature, for more Wellness Wednesday posts click here. Every Wednesday there is a new wellness post at 7 pm. Update: this feature no longer runs but there are still loads of blog posts here.