Over the past few weeks life seems to have become a little
more hectic for me and I am sure that there are many of you out there feeling
the same pressure. We all probably have the same love/hate relationship with
the fast approaching holidays that seem to bring a little more added stress to
our already overflowing schedules. Feeling overwhelmed is certain to follow us.
Now is the time to take a proactive approach and prepare yourself for the
hectic times ahead of you by creating your own personalized stress management “toolbox”.
What will your “toolbox” look like? That’s the fun part! It can be anything you
want! Your “toolbox” could be a concept in your head or it could be something
physical like a basket, a bag, or a shoe box you take time to decorate yourself
(if you like being crafty). Then decide what you would like to put in your “toolbox”. These should be things that help keep you
calm, relaxed and de-stressed. Here are a few suggestions.
- First, put in your “toolbox” a pad of paper or whatever electronic device you choose, to create a daily or weekly “to do” list. Creating a daily or weekly list of the things you need to accomplish and the priority you need to accomplish them in can really be helpful in keeping you from feeling overwhelmed and can also give you a sense of accomplishment as you are able to cross things off of your list. It is a great organization tool that I use all the time.
- Second, put some type of humor in your “toolbox”. Laughing is found to be one of the best ways to de-stress and keep your mood in a good place (plus laughter burns calories and who doesn’t want that especially during the holidays). Maybe you use a joke book or maybe you watch one of your favorite comedians on YouTube. Maybe you have a favorite sitcom that comes on in the evening you like to watch or maybe you like funny comics in the weekly newspaper. Whatever it is find what makes you laugh and go with it.
- Third, make sure you are keeping “gas” in your “gas tank”. You may want to keep a small energy boosting snack in your “toolbox”. A few snacks I like to keep around are bananas, the small individual size bags of tuna which helps keep your adrenaline levels down, baby carrots (I like the little individual packs for convenience), almonds to help boost the immune system, and last but definitely not least, dark chocolate(just watch your portion size because it is still chocolate and does have sugar that can add to the extra weight none of us really want).
- Fourth, always make sure you have a bottle of water around. I cannot say enough about the benefits of water. Your body needs it and without it cannot function. Plus taking a second to pull out the water bottle and take a few sips might just give you an excuse to stop and breathe for a minute. Stay away from caffeine as much as possible. Caffeine is a stimulant and will actually increase the feelings of anxiety and feeling overwhelmed. Try to boost your energy levels with natural foods or vitamins instead.
- A few other ideas you can choose from might be music, a stress ball you bought or made yourself, a book you like to read, a yoga mat so you can pull it out anywhere you go and find yourself with a few free moments, your walking or running shoes because you never know when they might come in handy, a pad of paper and pencil if you like to draw, or even a crossword puzzle or word search. I admit I love a good word search. I used to sit and watch my grandmother work on them when I was little and I guess I grew to love them to.
There are so many more things I
could mention here but the idea is for you to make your stress management “toolbox”
personal to you. Keep this with you everywhere you go and remind yourself to
use it. I think you will find having these tools at your fingertips can be most
helpful when you feel like you have just about had all you can take and you
want to either run someone off of the road or tell that annoying coworker what
you really think of them. But the number one thing to remember when trying to
deal with stress is BREATHE!!! Until next time…