I feel like it’s starting to hit that point in the New Year, where stress is staring to set in. I know what you’re thinking; it’s barely March, spring hasn’t sprung, and the year hasn’t REALLY started. If I’m going to be completely transparent, I’m a very stressed human. I thrive on it, but it can also wear me down.
Stress is a completely natural sensation, emotion, or mindset; pick appropriate adjective and insert here. We all experience stress and we all handle it differently.
Personally, my emotions can be on edge when I’m stressed and my anxiety goes through the roof. These are the moments when self-care practices are crucial. Not only does self-care help eliminate that worn down feeling, but it also helps ease that stressful sensation.
-Hydrate
-Skin care
-Deep breathing
-Something that makes you happy
Hydration, we always come back to you. It’s essential to live, but it also makes you feel good. As easy as drinking water is, it’s easily forgotten. When you’re dehydrated you have headaches, body cramps, and you just feel gross. Being stressed there’s already tension within and you don’t need to add to that. Staying hydrated or at least trying to {does anyone else struggle to stay hydrated, cause same} will relieve some physical pressure.
Skin care, you make everything better! Does anyone else experience breakouts from stress? If I ignore all the physical tension that accompanies stress, which I will, I can see when it gets to be too much in my skin. Adding a little more to a typical routine, like a face mask now and then or taking 10 extra minutes to exfoliate makes a SIGNIFICANT difference. You have a chance to relax and if you’re anything like and can’t relax, then you have that time to focus on something that isn’t stressing you.
Deep breathing, we forget about you all too often. The simplicity of a few deep breaths is underrated. They are the equivalent of a reset button and the quickest way to regain a sense of balance.
Something that makes you happy, you are also overlooked. Truthfully, I never notice how happy something makes me until I’m stressed out of my own skin. The simple things are genuinely appreciated when everything else is overwhelming. Big podcast fan. I drive constantly, so it’s easy to chuck one on submerge myself in the story or the advice and forget everything else. Writing also creates that genuine happiness. Find that thing that consumes you with happiness. Surround yourself with people who are going to make you laugh and I’m not talking about a childish giggle, I mean that honest until you’re in tears laughter. Laughing cures a lot; including, but not limited to, stress, seasonal depression, heartbreak, and your favorite show getting kicked off Netflix {R.I.P. Friends}.
Stress is inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be torturous. It also never has to be lonely.