We can’t avoid stress – unless we’re six feet under, pushing up daisies. But we work better, feel happier, and live longer when we control it. Here are 50 proven stress busters:
- Don’t rely on your memory to keep appointments and remember tasks. Keep an appointment book with plenty of room for an ongoing to-do list.
- Get up 15 minutes earlier each morning so you don’t have to rush to work and start the day feeling frazzled.
- Prepare for the morning the night before: Iron and set out clothes, pack your briefcase/handbag, plan breakfast.
- Try to do nothing that you’ll have to lie about later.
- Keep a duplicate car key in your wallet.
- Practice preventive maintenance on your appliances, home, car, teeth and personal relationships. They’ll be less likely to require emergency care.
- Keep reading or work material with you so you don’t have to feel you’re wasting time while waiting in lines or for appointments.
- What you want to do tomorrow, do today. What you want to do today, do now. Procrastination is stressful. Hard work is simply the accumulation of easy things you didn’t do when you should have.
- Don’t skip meals. Going a-hungering can make you moody and irritable and affect your performance, starting off a vicious cycle.
- Organize your home and your desk at work, so that everything has its place. You won’t have to go through the stress of losing things, and you’ll save time.
- Plan ahead. Don’t let the gas tank get below one-quarter full; keep a well-stocked “emergency shelf” of supplies at work and at home; buy postage stamps before you run out; and start projects and reports early.
- Schedule a realistic day. Allow ample time between appointments so you won’t have to rush, worry or apologize for being late.
- Relax your standards for non-essential chores. The world won’t end if your cupboard doesn’t get cleaned this weekend.
- Take brisk, 30-minute walks or try some other form of aerobic exercise – an instant cure for most stress.
- Take the scissors to your credit cards.
- Talk it out. Discussing your problems with a trusted friend can help clear your mind of confusion so you can concentrate on solving problems.
- Make friends with non-worries.
- Make time for solitude every day.
- Be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and erring. You will be all of these sometime in life.
- Simplify. Then simplify and simplify.
- Say “No, thank you” to extra projects you don’t have time or energy for.
- Ask questions; repeat what you think the other person said. Taking a minute to be sure you understand can save hours.
- Donate old clothes/unwanted medicines to a worthy cause. Getting rid of what you don’t need or use will make what you do need easier to find.
- Get enough sleep. If necessary, use an alarm clock to remind you to go to bed.
- Set up contingency plans – just in case. “If either of us is delayed,” or, “If we get separated at the railway station here’s what we’ll do…”
- Check your breathing throughout the day and before and after high-pressure situations. When under stress, we tend to take short, shallow breaths. Relax your stomach muscles and take several deep, slow breaths. When you’re relaxed, both your chest and abdomen expand with each breath.
- If you’re faced with an unpleasant task, get it over with early in the day.
- Do one thing at a time.
- Don’t put up with things that don’t work right. If something is an aggravation, get it fixed or replace it.
- Before saying anything, ask yourself if what you are about to say is true, kind and necessary.
- Stop worrying. If something concerns you, do something about it. If you can’t do anything about it, let it go.
- Unplug your phone during activities that you’d rather not have interrupted, such as eating or taking a bath. If possible, set times at work when you’re not to be disturbed.
- For every one thing that goes wrong, there are 50 or 100 blessings. Count them.
- Write your thoughts and feelings in a journal to help you clarify things and put them in perspective.
- The next time someone cuts you off in traffic, criticizes your work, etc., don’t get mad. Instead, think of instances when you’ve done the same. Have you never made a mistake?
- Label situations differently. Are you really “furious” about something? Try labelling your feelings as “angry” or merely “annoyed” instead. Are you really “crushed”, or just “disappointed?” Most people have a tendency to use descriptive words that are stronger than necessary. Your flat tire wasn’t “terrible”; World War II was terrible. Putting things in perspective can reduce or eliminate stress.
- Learn to live one day at a time.
- Do at least one thing you enjoy every day.
- Be kind to unkind people. They probably need it the most.
- Don’t sweat the small stuff.
- Laugh.
- Turn “needs” into preferences. Our basic needs are food, water and shelter. Everything else is a preference.
- Practice this relaxation technique: Inhale deeply through your mouth to the count of 8. Then exhale slowly through your mouth to the count of 16. Concentrate on the long, sighing sound and feel tension dissolve. Repeat 10 times.
- Forget about counting to 10. Count to 100 before saying anything that could make matters worse.
- Learn to delegate responsibility to others who are capable of handling it.
- Add an ounce of love to everything you do.
- Learn to enjoy solitude and silence. Using the television or radio for background noise or “company” can be stressful.
- Make promises sparingly and keep them faithfully.
- Remember that the best things in life aren’t things.
- Focus on understanding rather than on being understood, on loving rather than on being loved.
