I talked the other day about how stress could be effecting your ovulation (read the blog post here) and I told you guys to leave that shit at the door. But someone asked me “how do I do that?”, so I thought I would round up some of my favorite ways to de-stress.
Let’s be real here though, you can meditate one time and feel better temporarily, but actually managing your stress requires showing up every day and making strides towards improving your response to it.
It’s really important for everyone to try and find out what works for them. What works for Sally down the block may not work for you at all – and THATS OKAY! We are all different people and in the bigger picture it’s important for you to get in tune with your body AND mind, to figure out what you need to feel WELL.
So here are some possible ideas for you :
Find a routine – give yourself something to expect every single day. If your body wakes up knowing exactly what you need to do every morning, you will automatically feel safe and your body isn’t going to enter into fight or flight mode as soon as you wake up. This routine should also act as apart of your core: the things that make you feel like you; things to fall back on when your feeling stressed that you know will calm you down. For me it involves my morning routine : wake up, bathroom, get coffee, sit down on my mat, and either meditate, journal, or do yoga (or all 3). This routine helps me start every single day feeling safe, full, and in charge.
Do 1 thing for yourself every day – consider this your daily dose of self care, because if your not doing something for yourself every damn day, then wtf are you doing in this world? Maybe fitting a whole routine into your day just won’t work for you at this stage of your life, and THAT’S OKAY. So instead just do one thing for yourself every day, this could last 5 minutes or 45 minutes, but it needs to be something that makes you feel good. Maybe it’s doing a craft, or reading, or working out, or doing yoga, or working on your passion project. It doesn’t always have to be the same thing either, but you guys, you can totally carve out at least 5 minutes of every day to do something for you!
Journaling – I’ve said this before and I will say it again, get that shit out of you. Getting your stress off of your chest on some paper will help you to gain clarity of whatever is affecting your life. Whether its the demands of your job, the stress of a relationship, or past traumas coming up for you – getting it out of your mind can help you process through it and maybe find a way you for you to change your reaction in order to come at the experience in a different way. Just start writing and see what comes out, you’d be surprised what will get down on that page. I’ve spent the last year journaling almost every day and it was absolutely life changing.
Build your support team – I’ve been going through some shit this year, but the one thing I had that helped me GROW through it was my support team. I talked about things to people that I had never shared before, and had to get vulnerable af with them to do it, and in return I was given epic strength and acceptance by the person on the receiving end. These people know things about me and still fricken love me. I have grown my tribe by being open and honest with those around me and it feels so good.
Read Your Book – you know, that one, sitting on your table just waiting to be read by your tired little eyes. The one you probably don’t have any time for. Well, ladies, let’s make the time! If instead of spending the last 10 minutes before bed looking at insta or working, you spent it reading that book you’ve been dying to get your hands on could provide you with 10 hours of productivity tomorrow. All because you took time out of your night to show yourself a little love and relax that wired brain.
Sitting in Silence on the Floor – just sitting and being; acknowledging, accepting, and not judging; being who you are in the present moment and quieting your thoughts down, trying to focus on just breathing and being. 1 minute, 5 minutes, 37 minutes, whatever you can manage. Just give yourself a break if your stressing out, allow your body to feel safe for a moment, so you can go back and tackle the damn thing with your head on straight.
Move Your Body – whether it’s yoga, stretching, going for a run, working out; whatever type of movement that feels really good to you, DO IT. Moving your body can help decrease stress, especially if you get in the flow state where what your doing allows you to block out everything else going on in your life. Just promise me you won’t overexercise because that will just cause more cortisol (stress hormone) to be released and we don’t want that right now.
Put your legs up a wall – when you lay down on the ground with you butt scooted next to the wall and your legs resting up on the wall as they shoot up to the ceiling, it begins to trigger relaxation of the nervous system. It may take 5-10 minutes for the full effect to take place, but believe me once it does, you’ll feel like a new woman. I did this the other day in the middle of an anxiety attack and it’s my new go-to pose to calm down.
Remember that managing stress isn’t just a one time magic fix, it takes time and persistency. The more your show up, the less the stress will. Try making 1 change at a time, changing it up as you see fit, because this is your life, and you need to find out what makes you well.
Now, I want to know! What are your favorite ways to manage your stress on a daily basis? Let me know in the comments!