5 Simple Ways to Reduce Stress!

We need to reduce our stress not only during the holidays, but EVERY DAY!  Below are some simple tips that have a huge impact on reducing our stress levels!

Stress relief tip #1:

Focus on reading / listening to / watching uplifting things.

It may sound a little silly at first, but it really does make a difference in your attitude & outlook. Remember how great it feels to have your favorite song come on the radio on a warm sunny day?  Listening to uplifting things is kind of like that; it boosts your serotonin and makes you feel good! Check in with yourself throughout the day, if you’re feeling down – reset yourself by listening to a favorite song or read a few pages of your favorite book.

Stress relief tip #2:

Gratitude journaling!

This is best when done in the morning, so you start your day off on a positive note. It wouldn’t hurt to do it again right before bed if you have the time!

Why do a gratitude journal?

Gratitude journaling helps shift your mind into finding a silver lining in everything. It doesn’t happen right away, but through this repetitive action, over time, you eventually train your brain to look for the positives in each situation.

How to do a gratitude journal:

Buy a little journal from your favorite store, and get as creative with it as you would like.  Write at least one thing you’re grateful about each day.  Journaling like this helps ground you and shifts your focus to the little things. This is great, because the big things in life don’t necessarily happen often, and it helps us be thankful for the little things that do happen daily, like my 6 & 8 year olds’ giggles during our bedtime reading. It helps you be a little more present as well, and truly enjoy those little moments.

You don’t need to spend excessive amounts of time on it either – 2 minutes is all you need.  You can also search “gratitude journal prompts” in Google if you want a couple places to start.

Stress relief tip #3:

Reward yourself!

If you keep going from task to task without rewarding yourself a little bit, you lose your drive to do more, and it adds to stress levels.

Make sure you aren’t rewarding with an unhealthy treat, but reward with an experience or something else creative. A bonus reward would also be something that you would consider self-care; something that “fills your bucket” so to speak.

Here are some ideas of things to reward yourself with:

Resistance bands, yoga mats, water bottles, exercise ball, personal blender, bath products, manicures, herbal teas, cookbooks, gratitude journals, motivational cards, vacations (even just a weekend getaway), a trip to the zoo, a hike at your favorite park, or a movie on the big screen.

Stress relief tip #4:

Take back your day!

Have you ever noticed that your day gets all out of whack when you decide to check your e-mail when you first get to work, instead of just doing the tasks you want/need to get done?

It’s because you are letting others take control of your day, rather than you taking hold of it.

Here’s the tip!

Wake up before everyone in the house. This will give you time to yourself to read, meditate, exercise; basically, ground and center yourself. Set aside e-mail checking time to later in the day. This helps set you up to be in control of your day, and not just respond to stressors.

Stress relief tip #5:

Create a habit/routine!

We are naturally creatures of habit and routine. This is a good thing when it comes to stress, because if we establish a routine and stick to it, it minimizes the amount of continuous decision making that we need to do! The less decisions we need to make on a daily basis, the less stress we will carry. 

How to do this:

Get a planner and create an outline of what you want your ideal day to look like, and do it! I recommend this planner, it has helped me stay on track so much better than any other planner I’ve used.