- Keep a journal. Write your goals, frustrations, memories, and funny anecdotes. List your blessings and reread them at times. Journaling is one of the main things counselors recommend. It’s amazing.
- Try progressive relaxation. Get comfortable in a chair, couch, or bed. Consciously and slowly relax each part of your body. Relax your head, relax your eyes, relax your mouth, relax your neck… You get the idea. Keep doing this all the way to your toes.
- Breathe deeply. Shut your eyes. Turn off your brain. Ignore everything else that is going on. If a thought comes, let it come, but then let it go. Don’t dwell on it. Right now, breathing is the only important thing in your life. Breathe in slowly. Hold it a few seconds. Breathe out slowly. Breathe in relaxation. Breathe out stress. Listen to the sound of your breath. Feel the air go in and out. Keep this up for several minutes, and you will be surprised how well it works. When things are crazy at work, I will step into the restroom, lock the stall, and spend several minutes rebooting my mind. It works.
- If you feel like crying, find a private place, and just do it. It helps. A lot.
- Exercise. Physical stress relieves mental stress. Science has proved this. Exercise releases endorphins that make you feel better. It also helps your health tremendously.
- Enjoy nature. Get out of the house. Take a walk or a jog. Watch the sunset. Work in the garden. Sit under a tree. Seeing beauty elevates your mood.
- Sleep. Get as much sleep as possible. Melatonin, 5-HTP, Benadryl or other sleep aids might help.
- Eat well and drink plenty of fluids. You will feel better. Never underestimate the power of food. Eating well means plenty of protein, vegetables, and fruits. Eat them as close as possible to their natural state. Take vitamins. Avoid sugar, junk food, and processed food. Sugar is addictive and can depress your mood. Don’t stuff yourself. It will change how you feel, and you’ll get sick less.
- Get some sunlight. This increases the hormone, serotonin, in your brain which boosts your mood and decreases stress. Sunlight also increases vitamin D which helps your mood and your immune system. You’ll get sick less, and being sick is stressful. Most of us are deficient in vitamin D.
- Connect with other people. If you have a broken toe, the doctor doesn’t put it in a cast. You tape it to the toe next to it. You keep taping it to the other toe day after day until it is healed. Find someone helpful, and tape yourself to them. Don’t try to connect with everybody and don’t connect with people who cause you more anxiety and drama. Just pick a couple of calm people and work at building relationships. Science has shown that GOOD relationships reduce stress, depression, addictions, and improve happiness. (And bad ones do the opposite.)
- Make time to be alone and recharge your batteries. Reboot your brain. Give yourself time to think deeply, without distractions. Turn off your phone. Too much social media definitely makes things worse. Think about what YOU want to think, not what the group is thinking.
- Play music or do an art project. Something creative. Something fun.
- Humor. Watch silly clips on the internet or a comedy movie. This is my favorite when my day is crashing all around me and I need to distract my brain. Read a fun book. Humor is healing. Laughter is an effective stress reducer. That’s another thing science has proved. The Bible says, “A merry heart is good, like medicine.” And it tastes better than medicine.
- Prioritize. You can’t do everything. What is most important to you? Look at the big picture. Make sure your energy is spent on the important things and chose to not be bothered by the small stuff that didn’t get done. It’s OK to say “no” to the things that are not your high priorities.
- Learn to set boundaries with other people. You may need help from a counselor to know whether others’ demands on you are excessive or not and how to kindly but firmly change this.
- Accomplish something each day, even if it’s just making the bed. Set small goals, and do them. (Big goals can make you more anxious.) Make a point to enjoy what you accomplished. Anxious people tend to belittle themselves and the things they do.
16 choices. If one doesn’t work, try a different one. Find what fits YOU.
