Navigating Stress in Your Daily Life

The First Step Is Awareness

Stress has become the ubiquitous currency of modern life. An assumed state of being now dismissed as “normal”. While the human body has adapted to thrive and grow during periods of stress, chronic stress sets the stage for complete system failure. Over time, left unaddressed, stress erodes our overall quality of life. Many of us are unaware that certain persistent, nagging symptoms are our body alerting us to the fact that we have or are about to exceed our stress tolerance capacity. The bucket is full.

The first step is awareness. The key to healing and thriving lies in becoming aware of both the causes of stress in our lives and noticing our body’s response to them. The body will send us cues, growing louder and louder the longer we ignore it and continue to veer off course. The more easily we learn to recognize these early warning signs, the faster we can consciously choose to make changes and avoid unwanted outcomes.  

Common symptoms include:

• Chronic pain

• Tension headaches

• Bloating

• Feeling disconnected

• Fatigue

• Low mood or increased agitation

• Sleep disturbances

• A reduced ability to focus including an uptick in numbing activities (think mindless scrolling)

• Changes in appetite

• Ruminating thoughts

• Consistently feeling overwhelmed

Becoming aware takes intention and consistency. It will involve you taking pauses, quieting the external noises and observing the sensations in your body.  Stop what you are doing and just breathe. Notice your breath moving in and out of your body. Slowly scan your body. Are there areas that feel tight? Constricted? Sore? Tense? Hot? Cold? Numb? Breath into these sensations and take note of what patterns emerge during periods of increased stress.

Common sources of stress:

• Relationship issues

• Work conflict

• Chronic illness/infection

• Poor sleep

• Skipping Meals

• Extreme exercise

• Traumatic events

Since we can’t avoid all stress in life, it is important to focus on minimizing its impact. Without some form of stress management, you will sabotage all your best efforts with diet, exercise, and supplements. Our daily choices can build our resiliency and capacity to handle stress.

Seek to reduce stress in your life. Learn to say no, avoid or limit time spent with people who stress you out, give up pointless arguments, aim to reduce your exposure to news and online stress.

Find an option for stress management that works for you. Start small, maybe that looks like a five minute guided meditation or three minutes of 4-7-8 breathing (in through your nose for four counts, hold for seven, exhale through your mouth for eight). Make it a priority, cultivate time in your schedule to be consistent. Choose a variety of practices to fit your interest and lifestyle (eg mediation, mindful walking, yoga, qi gong, journaling, drawing, breath work etc). Be gentle with yourself - these are tools to reduce stress not add to it!

Your thoughts are also affecting your perception of stress. Reframe situations, if you are stuck in traffic take it as an opportunity to listen to your favorite music or podcast. Practice acceptance towards yourself, others, and the things you cannot change. Be grateful, writing down just three things you are grateful for each day can have a surprisingly positive impact.

The pillars of wellness: sleep, nutrition, movement, connection. All of these build your resilience allowing you to move through your day with greater ease and enjoyment. Sleep affects the function of almost every system of the body, striving to improve the quality, duration, and timing of your sleep is one of the single most powerful interventions you can make to improve your health. Move! Get outside, remember to play and connect with those you care about. Small doses count, let good be good enough and fill your cup daily.

The Takeaway:

1.  Become more aware of the stressors in your life and how your body responds.

2. Minimize the impact:

         -reduce your total exposure to psychological and physiological stress

         -mitigate the harmful effects of stress you can’t avoid

         -adopt strategies to manage stress that work for you

3. Self-care isn’t a luxury, it’s a daily practice of taking care of your own

well-being.

For more insight and support on ways you can manage the stress in your life, reach out to Well+Together and book a free discovery call.