The Art Of Balancing Stress

It's a common misconception that you have to avoid any stress at all costs, however if you live on a planet called Earth (which I'm assuming you all do) it's virtually impossible. Stress is a necessary evil, it's part of being human and experiencing real human emotions. Yes, some of us get stressed a little easier than others (I'm definitely one of them) but it's not about eradicating it completely, it's about finding the right balance. 

I've learnt how to manage stress throughout 2014, after having a mental health breakdown during my final year at University. I needed to learn fast to be able to get through to graduation and move on with my life. As a result, I ended up doing a massive amount of research into stress management and would do whatever it took to relieve some of the crippling anxiety I was feeling due to stress. 

I found one of the most effective ways to relieve some of the stress, was to unplug. Take yourself off the internet and just concentrate on whatever is getting on top of you. Give your a brain a little break from constantly ticking over and actually take in your surroundings and situations. You may find you're online more than you realise. 

This also pairs nicely with my next point, pay attention to your thoughts and feelings. Really take time to sit on your own in a quiet room and listen to the thoughts zooming around your head. Are you surprised by what you find? Pay attention to how you body feels, do you feel tired? Any muscle aches? Focusing on your own body is a great meditation technique and it allows you to centre yourself in the here and now. 

If you find that you just can't switch off, not even for 5 minutes, try focusing on the positives. I know that is a lot easier said than done (my friends and family will all vouch that I'm not the most positive person in the world) but by focusing on the positives, you can change your mood completely. For example, if you're stressed out about work, think about 3 things that you actually love about your job. By comparing the stress your going through with the overall positives, you'll be able to place your stress into context, balancing the good with the bad. 

It all comes down to changing your own perception of a situation. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that it's an easy thing to do because it's not, it's actually really freaking hard. But like anything, practice makes perfect and by doing any of these on a regular basis, you'll find your brain will retune and balance out your stress a lot more easily and naturally. 

Great stress management resources:

Calm Meditation App

Headspace

Be Mindful

Helpguide Stress Management

Have you struggled with stress in the past? How do you deal with a stressful situation? 

Tips To Beat Anxiety & Stress

If, like me, you have been dealing with anxiety and depression for a number of years, you will know how unbelievably hard it can be to get professional help. What I was told was that unless you are on the brink of serious harm to yourself or others, getting help for a mental illness is like trying to win the lottery. 

I'm not writing this as an 'oh woe is me' post, I think it's very important that all anxiety sufferers share their techniques and tricks to help people who are looking to help themselves. The internet is an amazing place to look for self help and it is far easier than leafing through endless textbooks telling you that 'everything's going to be ok, you just have to believe and get over it'. 

The main way that I deal with anxiety and stress is through meditation, I'm not going to go into massive detail about it as I've already written one big post all about my meditation techniques and how they help. What I will say is that if you haven't tried this as an anxiety buster, definitely give it a shot, it helps you focus on your breathing and grounds you in the here and now. 

That leads me into my next point, take baby steps. I'm just as guilty as the next person of thinking too far ahead into the future and forgetting to live in the here and now. If you have a particularly stressful event coming up, try to take it one day at a time, always focusing on the big picture makes you lose sight of the smaller things. Things are easier to swallow in smaller bites than in one massive chunk. 

It's also important to take some time out for you. Whether that is exercise, reading, watching a movie or just chilling out and listening to some music. Try and remove yourself from the constant busyness of daily life and just take some time out, slow things down and do something you really enjoy. 

Finally, keep a journal. Write down how you felt that day before you got to bed, what happened that made you happy, what are you grateful for. Take a little time to really reflect on the day and what you really enjoyed. Try and find the positives as much as possible and eventually your brain will look for them naturally without even trying. 

So many bloggers and vloggers have brought awareness to anxiety these past few years and I'm so happy it is being talked about more and more. A mental illness has always been seen as either attention seeking or just being over dramatic and now a real serious conversation has broken out in both the media and the blogging community. Here's a little fact for you, mixed anxiety and depression is the most common mental disorder in Britain and 1 in 4 people will suffer with some sort of mental illness. Let's keep this conversation going and make mental illness taboos a thing of the past.