5 Ways to Reduce Stress Today
When it comes to your mental health, managing your day-to-day stress to prevent burnout is more important than ever.
Stress is cumulative and if you’re not careful, it’s easy to get caught up in negative spirals, feel hopeless, or suffer physical ailments.
You may already be feeling the negative effects (or have been for some time), but the good news is that you can start reducing stress immediately through small, daily actions. Make protecting your mental and physical health a top priority and the results will be cumulative in a helpful way.
Here are 5 simple ways to start reducing stress today.
Table of Contents
Pay Attention To How You Already Cope
Harness The Power Of Mindfulness
Let Go Of Control
Take Time For Real Self-care
Reach Out For Support
Pay attention to how you cope
Start paying attention to that ways your stress shows up every day and how you tend to cope with it:
When are you most stressed and what is the first thing you do to cope?
Take a piece of paper and divide it into two columns: on the left make a list of what de-stresses you and on the right, what amps up your stress.
As you move through the week, start writing down when you notice something works or helps, and when something really doesn’t work.
When you’re already stressed, your brain will default to whatever habits you’re used to, even if they’re not particularly healthy or helpful.
The same activity could be both helpful and harmful depending on the intention. Here are some examples:
Healthy coping: actively watching a TV show you enjoy to unwind
Unhealthy coping: binge watching a TV show to avoid dealing with work or something stressful
Healthy coping: scrolling Reddit to find interesting articles or funny memes
Unhealthy coping: scrolling Reddit without really paying attention to what you’re reading
Take note of the default activities that increase your stress and set reminders to check in regularly. Default habits aren’t always useful and can often exacerbate your symptoms.
Harness the power of mindfulness
It’s easy to send yourself down the rabbit hole of worry when you’re thinking about things that may or may not happen way in the future.
There’s no way to predict what will happen with absolute certainty, and unfortunately your brain doesn’t like that kind of uncertainty. Uncertainty is unsafe, and your brain’s only job is to restore a sense of safety.
Think of worrying as problem-solving gone haywire. It’s your brain’s attempt to feel like you’re doing something constructive in the face of uncertainty. But this doesn’t actually help you feel safe, only more stressed!
Instead of getting caught up in worries, you can be more certain about what you do each day by being more mindful on a regular basis.
Whenever possible, bring yourself back to the present by focusing on what’s happening today, in this moment. If building a more structured routine is helpful, figure out what an ideal day would look like for you and create habits that align with it.
Incorporate a mindfulness activity to feel more at peace and grounded on a regular basis. This will help you interrupt the stress/worry cycle so you’re not always on autopilot.
Related: 10 Small Ways to Improve Your Life
Let go of control
When you stop to think about it, almost everything is out of your control. It’s a somewhat scary thought, which is why almost everyone tends to ignore it.
The problem is that this ignoring this can cause an unnecessary amount of stress.
Anything that happens outside of you is subject to your influence, not your control. There are only two things you can control:
Your behavior
Your immediate environment
Notice how your thoughts and feelings aren’t included on this list. This is because no matter what anyone tells you, you can’t control your thoughts or your feelings. You can actively think of something or do things to bring about a particular emotion, but you have no control over what shows up on its own.
While you may not have a lot of control, you always have choices.
It’s way more beneficial to let go of control and lean into the choices you make. In any given moment, you can pause and ask yourself what choice you want to make. You may not like or prefer a choice, but it’s still yours to choose.
This creates a greater sense of agency in your life, even if you need to make choices you don’t like. Trying to control something that’s ultimately out of your control is a tremendous source of stress. The more you lean into influence, the less you’ll worry about controlling outcomes.
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Take time for real self-care
I spoke about this in my other self-care post that real self-care is the fuel that helps you deal with your problems because you can’t pour from an empty cup.
It’s not about pampering yourself (although that can be part of it), but rather doing the things that matter to you and recharge your batteries.
Self-care activities can be anything you’d like, such as:
Something social
Playing your favorite game
Getting your body moving
Disconnecting from the news
I recommend creating a master list of self-care activities to refer to when you’re feeling depleted. It’s much easier to pick something from a list than think of it on the spot.
If you’re struggling to pick something, close your eyes and point at random. If you start getting bored or distracted, take a breath and re-engage with what you’re doing. If you’re just not into it, pick something totally different from your list.
Related: Overcoming Self-Care Guilt
Reach out for support
No one can handle everything on their own, it’s just not possible. It’s hard to ask for help when you’re stressed, and yet that’s the very best time to connect and get community support.
If you’re feeling hesitant or have thoughts about not wanting to burden anyone, think about how you’d feel if a friend reached out for support.
Would you be upset with them? Ignore them? Pity them?
Or would you lean in and want to help them?
Remember that your support system wants to help you when you’re struggling, that’s the point of having one! It’s also important to diversify your support (whether it’s family, friends, professionals, etc.) so you don’t over-rely on one person.
If you don’t have enough social support, consider finding a professional that can help you manage your stress and teach you healthy coping skills while you build a community.
Related: How To Be Nicer To Yourself
I hope these tips are a good jumping off point to help you better manage your stress on a day-to-day basis. It only takes small, daily actions to reduce the negative effects of stress.
For more tips on building a healthier habits, check out my other post: How to Build Healthy Habits (and Stick to Them).
