Does stress control your life?

Stress is something that is part of everyone’s life. Without managing stress it can take over and soon you’ll find that your mind is cloudy, your chest feels tight, and you feel completely out of control.

As an entrepreneur the list of things you have to accomplish and get done in a day is now added to your other life responsibilities. Which can make it even more of a stressful time if you’re sure how to effectively work towards managing stress.
Does the thought of social media make your heart beat faster because of the fear inside you have of never being able to write what you really want to say?
When you set your intentions for the week, do you stress out about the lack of time you feel you have, questioning “how am I going to get this all done?”

Here’s the good news, there are ways to work toward managing stress in your life so it has no control over you.

These 4 ways to manage stress are easy to start using and will have immediate impact on reducing your stress.

1.) Bring it Back to your Breath

Bring your focus to your breathing. This centers you. Brings you to the present moment. It gives you an awareness of the moment you’re in helping you realize that in the here and now you’re okay.
Make this a multiple time a day practice. When you feel yourself spiraling into stress and it feels like it is taking over. Stop and breathe. Center yourself and bring it back to the here and now. Speak positively to yourself and allow yourself to be in the present moment and only focus on your breathing. 

2.) Get Moving

Get up and move. Physically moving out of the space you’re in can help you remove stress from your life. Exercise releases endorphins which are feel good chemicals. This helps reduce stress in your life. Another result of exercise on managing stress is that when you exercise you are able to sleep better, which results in less stress.

3.) Write it Out

Getting the thoughts out on paper is the most powerful way, in my opinion, to reduce stress. When I practice by doing a thought download or brain dump my mind is able to clear some space for more clarity and room to breathe.
Part of this practice is actually writing it down. Not just typing it up. I believe wholeheartedly in the power of your hand creating out on paper what your mind is thinking.
This also allows you to go back and reflect on what is coming out of your mind onto paper. You can have a clearer idea of what is going on in your mind so you can work to take back control over the stress that is controlling you. Being able to see what is actually going on in you mind allows you to take inventory of what kind of thinking you’re engaging in. If it’s primarily negative thinking you can work to turn the thought around to make it positive which again results in less stress.

4.) Guided Meditation

Guided meditations are an essential part of my weekly stress reducing practice. A guided meditation is a way for you to bring your attention back to the present moment and become aware of what is real and not real in your life. A lot of stress comes from things we allow our minds to believe about circumstances and situations in our life. My favorite app is Insight Timer, you can access a whole library of FREE guided meditations! 

Taking 10 minutes daily to meditate helps you to unjumble the thoughts that cause you to feel stress. Increasing your self awareness helps you to be able to do that in everyday moments and not just in meditation. This results in better thought choice and making choices that are in alignment with your values and honor your boundaries and limitations.

The next time you’re feeling stressed, which is most likely right now since you’re here, try one of these four ways to help reduce your stress. None of these are quick fixes. You have to take action and practice these over and over until they become your brain’s natural response to situations that may cause you stress.

Share in the comments how you plan to use one or all of these stress managers to help you!