Learning to Cope With Stress
Do you ever feel like you have an infinite amount of stress in your life? That no matter how hard you try to lessen it, there always seems to be more to follow? Well how about we let you in on a little secret. We all have felt that way at one time or another. In fact, most of us are probably feeling the exact same way right now. But it's okay, because life is stressful, and if you really think about it, there probably won't ever be a day when we won't have something to stress about.
The solution lies within how we react to that stress.
For example, you get all your kids off to school and you finally have some down time, and bam, you just realized there are 6 loads of laundry waiting for you, plus you forgot to put food in the crockpot for dinner, you haven't showered, and now you're getting a phone call from the youngest because they forgot a permission slip that they needed to turn in that morning. Your stress level is probably at a 9 right? And that's just normal every day stuff.
So basically, the stress is always going to be there. Even if you decide to take things off your list, more likely than not, something you hadn't planned on needing to do will come up and then where will you be? So first, accept that there will be stress. That's a given. Then try to lessen it where you can. We are not superwomen, though I think we all try to be. And most important, change your mindset which basically means we need to change the way we are reacting to this stress.
Instead of thinking, "Crap, this is going to be a bad day. I'm never going to get all this done. I can't do anything right." Try thinking, "It's okay. I will get through this one step at a time. It's all going to work out. I can handle this. I am amazing!"
It's certainly not easy to change you mindset all in one day. In fact it's going to take a lot of practice. But changing your mindset in this way will help reduce the negativity you feel that comes with the stress. We might suggest taking time to meditate especially when you are feeling all of that negativity bubbling up inside of you. A great resource for learning how to meditate is Headspace. It is a free app that will make meditation super simple. It has a rating of 4.9 with 303,000 reviews in the App Store. It’s like guided meditation. The app will teach you the fundamental techniques of meditation and mindfulness. Simply step back, take a breath, or two, and focus on what you can do in that moment to change your mindset.
Another thing you can do to change your mindset is to focus on the positive things as you go about your day. Be grateful for the things that didn't go wrong. You might find more good than you would expect and it will make you feel even a little better.
Stress will always appear in one way or another, but that doesn't mean you need to give it any power over you. Your mind is a very powerful thing, and when you change the way you react to stress, the negative feelings won't be there anymore. Instead you might actually feel empowered, strong, and ready to take on whatever life throws at you next.
