Stress and Your Daily Life

Stress is one of those facts of life. It exists, and it sometimes feels like there's nothing you can do about it except to take a long, relaxing vacation, where you pack a big suitcase of fun and leave all of your figurative baggage at home. While many people believe that this truly is the only cure, there fortunately are other ways of dealing with stress that don't include just leaving everything behind you and then inevitably
needing to deal with it later.

First off, we should look at how society as a whole helps to create our stress. Even if you aren't naturally a high-strung, over-stressed person, our society, the media, technology, and the fast-paced way of life, all contribute to making us crazy and over-anxious. Keeping these things in mind is important when trying to manage your stress. If you can acknowledge and accept this, then it will help you to embrace it and use it to help manage your stress, as opposed to fight against it. For example, don't curse your blackberry for sending waves of panic through you every time you receive a new email, but use that same blackberry to organize your daily, weekly, monthly, calendar. Or, every time you turn on the evening news and listen to the rising gas prices and global warming, don't just freak out and accept the end of the world. Instead, use that computer and the internet to see how you can make even a small difference in halting global warming.

There are also some small, day-by-day, even hour-by-hour stress tips that can help you to de-stress throughout your daily activities. Something as simple as just stopping for five minutes, and doing a few deep breathing exercises can relax your whole body, making everything from your back to your brain feel better and less tight. When you breathe in through you nose, hold it for a few seconds, and then out through your mouth, it sends the most amount of oxygen to your brain, replenishing it and replenishing you. Also, if you simply stretch your arms up over your head, stretch your legs out in front of you, and take a few long, deep breaths, this can also replenish and refresh your body and mind.

I also have a few suggestions that will help in the long run. One option is to take up a new hobby that you've always wanted to do, but never have taken the time to do. Picking up a new craft, sport, or adventure can be surprisingly exhilarating and rejuvenating in your life, helping you release that pent-up stress. Even just spending time with others in a non-stressful, social network of some kind has been proven to make people feel more fulfilled and just plain happier. I have also found that exploring nature, no matter what kind of nature anywhere in the world, can reconnect you to the natural world and fresh air, and bring down that stress level.