How to Reduce Stress in Your Life

Feeling stressed…have anxiety…suffering from burnout…dealing with frustration…feeling overwhelmed? Well, you have come to the right place if you need to reduce stress in your life. Sometimes we can’t always have good days and good vibes.

There are many times in life that we may experience one of those terms listed above. We constantly deal with the troubles of the world. We may feel stressed or anxious about family situations, death, divorce, having a miscarriage, arguments, relationships, financial situations, work, feeling pressured from trying to be too perfect, etc.

Whatever the reason stress is present, we must deal with it once it arises. You may be asking yourself…but how?? I have five ways to reduce stress that will help you begin working towards a happier and healthier you.

1. How to Reduce Stress Through Prayer

I was raised in a small, country town and my family has always been big on going to church and praying. They instilled in me that prayer does change things! Although I pray daily (some days a lot), praying is my first line of defense to reduce stress. Whenever I feel myself getting overwhelmed with an issue or life in general, I pray. I ask for guidance, strength, perseverance, determination, motivation or whatever I feel I need to get through the tough time. My goal is once I pray, do not worry anymore. However, we are human and that may not always work as planned. So what do I do? Keep praying about it and asking for my faith to be increased and my stress and worries to decrease.

2. Accept What Cannot Be Changed

Most of us have read or heard the above prayer before. The Serenity Prayer does a great job helping us accept those things we cannot change and provides another way to reduce stress. When we are serene, our minds and thoughts are calm and still. I strive to have that “unbothered” feeling when I encounter those things I have absolutely no control over. There will be many, many times in life when we just cannot control what is happening. This prayer asks for serenity to accept those things. Other times, we can control what is happening and just need courage or the strength to get through them. But lastly, we need the wisdom to distinguish between the two. When we determine which is which, then we go from there. We can’t dwell or worry about those things we cannot do anything about. We must take it, deal with it and keep moving forward.

3. Use Current Stress To Make Future Situations Better

I try to use daily life situations as lesson learners. We can learn from any situation that we go through, especially those that cause stress. I have not met a person yet who enjoys living under chaos or being stressed or anxious all the time. For example, this weekend, my family had a family gathering and I was so stressed the entire day. I can’t remember feeling that overwhelmed in a long time. I felt so frustrated and anxious. So many things ran through my mind during the day. The event turned out very nice and the family enjoyed. However, at the end of the night, I sat quietly and thought about how to NEVER feel that way again. I realized that being more organized would have made a huge difference. Therefore, if we ever have another event, we need to take more time planning and organizing to reduce stress. We can’t turn back the hands of time, but we can try to not make the same choices if we encounter a similar situation.





4. Say No!

Some people just having that “people pleasing” type of personality (raises hand). I have said yes many times during my life that I’ve wanted to say no. This has happened for reasons such as not wanting to hurt the feelings of loved ones or friends, not wanting to feel guilty later, trying to fit in during my younger years, trying to help others out of financial trouble, etc.

Saying yes all the time can cause burnout, financial strain on yourself and stress. I am now practicing saying no more often instead of putting myself in situations that negatively affect my sanity, saying no to lending money when I can’t afford it in case I don’t get it back, saying no to going out to expensive restaurants and events when I am trying to budget my money and saying no to just always being available to help in general when I know I don’t have the time.

5. Be Proactive: Figure Out Stressors

It is better to catch stress on the front end instead of waiting for things to blow up to reduce stress. Different things and situations can cause us to feel frustrated and/or overwhelmed. Some triggers include money issues, work, relationships, taking on too much, not having enough personal time and being unorganized. Once we figure out what triggers our stress or frustration, we need to work on being proactive to prevent it from happening as much as possible.

If all else fails, it may be a good idea to seek professional help if you can’t get your stress under control. Please don’t be ashamed of doing what is best for YOU!

How well do you handle stress? How do you reduce stress? Do you have any questions or tips? Leave them below in the comments!

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