Stress and feeling overwhelmed has a profound impact on our mental wellbeing and women tend to feel the effect, more than men, when it comes to coping with stress, anxiety and overwhelm.
Stress is often caused by the following factors:
- lack of planning
- overcomplicating
- lack of self-care.
Here are the three secrets to creating calmness and eliminating stress:
Step 1: SMART planning
SMART planning helps to prevent everyday tasks from taking priority over longer-term goals and managing stress build-up.
Create A SMART plan that eliminates stress by following these five steps:
- Specific
The PLAN should be clear and specific, to ensure focus and motivation to achieve it. - Measurable
It’s important to have measurable goals, so that you can track your progress and stay motivated. - Achievable
The plan also needs to be realistic and attainable to be successful. - Relevant
This step is about ensuring that our goal matters to us, and that it also aligns with other relevant plans. - Time-bound
Every plan needs a target date, so that we have a deadline to focus on and something to work toward.
Step 2: Simplicity
“Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify,” said Henry David Thoreau.
It’s easy to be busy, doing and creating, but identifying the purpose and value of the work will help to lighten the stress load.
Making a conscious decision to doing less means choosing what aligns with one’s life values and eliminating worries and regrets.
Here’s a question to simplify things: “What is the one thing we can do such that by doing it, everything else will become easier or unnecessary?”
Here are some tips:
• Being productive doesn’t mean having to multitask, which often leads to a feeling of overwhelm.
• It means completing one task and getting it finished before starting the next one.
• Slow down simplify to get more done.
Step 3: Stress management
A. Create a regular de-stressing routine
Starting a regular self-care routine can significantly lower cortisol levels.
Here are some tips:
- Take a walk-in nature.
- Have a bath.
- Listen to relaxing music.
B. Meditation
Meditation a great tool for stress management as it calms the body and mind by slowing our heart rate and breathing.
Here are some tips:
- To get started, try a guided meditation with an app like CALM.
- Set aside a specific time each day and aim to stick to it for at least 10 days.
C. Pause and breathe
Focusing on the rhythm and quality of the breath can help take the mind off of the stress and combat it by improving oxygenation in the body and releasing tension in the muscles.
When stress comes on take a few minutes to practice diaphragmatic breathing.
Here are some tips:
- Breathe in through the abdomen to the count of four and let it fill up like a balloon.
- Hold the breath for five seconds, then release and repeat for several minutes.
When we drop the “unnecessary stress load” – our quality of life improves and we feel lighter and brighter.
Remember that we don’t need to have it all figured out, we just need to know how to move forward. The key is finding the right balance and working within it.
Irena Geller, Emotional Eating Coach, irenageller.com.au
