Everybody has stress in his or her life. Stress is just inevitable. For me, the first sign of stress is that I don’t sleep. As I got older, I started to realize what stress feels like and I knew I had to figure out how to manage stress that came into my life personally and professionally. That’s why I’m excited to share with you my top six ways to manage stress. As entrepreneurs, when we get that feeling of overwhelm and stress, all that mental chaos begins to swirl in our head. We get sidetracked, we focus on being “busy” instead of focusing on our priorities and if we really let it go to long we start to resent the work we are actually here to do. Really bad, right?! You might catch yourself thinking, “Oh my gosh, I have to do this, and that, I’ve got to go, go, go,” and you’re working late hours. Before you know it, you’re working all of the time, on things that aren’t moving you forward, filling your schedule up…and burned out.
If you feel stressed and you don’t know what to do… Or if you’re thinking, “This is impossible, I’m never going to be able to do this,” I’m hoping I can help. Today, I’m going to share the things that I do to fight stress, to get back on track, and to get centered again. I struggle with anxiety and stress from time to time and over the years I’ve learned how to recognize it and handle it before it starts to rule my days.
I am so excited to share with you six ways to help you deal with stress. They help me in my life, and hopefully they help you!
- First, when I get really overwhelmed, I stop and take a deep breath. Simply stop. Shut the phone off. Turn off the computer. Don’t do anything, don’t focus on anything. Take a deep breath.
- Second, I say a prayer. Literally, it goes like this, “God, [fill in the blank with whatever you believe in] I need some help figuring things out and sifting through this.” Just sit for a minute, stop and refocus and get centered again. I have a daily meditation practice, and I think throughout my life that has helped me to re-center and refocus so that I can get out of my head and get back into the present space.
- The third thing is, I ask myself, “What is the absolute worst that could happen?” I’m not doing brain surgery or sending people into space. So, if I’m really stressed about putting together a marketing plan for someone, what’s the worst that could happen? It doesn’t work? So we double back, refocus our efforts, and we do something new.
- If that doesn’t work, then I dig deeper… I start to think about why I’m so stressed out about this. Normally, it has to do with something in my own head, a limiting belief or fear. It’s either goes back to “I’m not good enough,” or “I’m not smart enough.” It’s normally a story that I’m making up in my mind or a negative thought. Then, I remember my Motivation Mantra “that’s not true” and logically the truth starts to set in and I get out of my own head, and I get into my heart. Then I realize it’s really not that bad, when I step away from it and unplug.
- The next thing I do is, I get moving. Get up and go for a walk and get moving. Getting out in Nature helps you to re-center your thoughts and refocus yourself. It gets you grounded again. You can even do a workout in the house, or walk around the yard. Get up, get the energy moving in your body. When you sit in front of the computer and you’re forcing something to happen, it’s not going to happen. If you take a break, get up and get moving, you can feel the energy start to calm down and things start to make sense again.
- The last step (and this is usually if you have something major going on), is go back to your roots. When all else fails and you are still struggling with something, go back to your roots. What is that thing or place that makes you feel most happy, peaceful and grounded? When I go back to the countryside where I grew up, this helps me get out of the space where I’m in, connect with my heart, and feel myself again. Going back home, and going back to the fresh air, the fields and open space, that simplicity and slower pace, helps me to just ground myself back down again and remember what is so great about life and ultimately what really is truly important.
Lastly, if all else fails, have a dance party. Get up, turn some tunes on, get dancing, and you will feel so much better. Add dancing to the 6 tips, and you too can be stress free! We all go through stressful times, whether you’re an entrepreneur, a business owner, or a full-time parent. We just need to find what works for us to help us when we feel like our mind is getting out of control.
So tell me, what do you do to combat stress? What do you do when you feel overwhelmed, and your mind is racing a mile a minute? What is your first sign that you know you need to kick stress to the curb or it will take over?
