I’m going to start off my saying, the irony of this blog post is immense. The fact that I, one of the most stressed people on this earth, am writing a blog post on ‘How To Diminish Stress’ is hilarious. Despite this, I have picked up a few tips and tricks along the way on how to lessen the stress in your life. So here we go …
Take. A. Break.
This is the most important tip I could possibly bestow on anyone. Take a minute, an hour, a day. Anything and everything that is stressing you out can wait. Even during exam time, the time you take away from your books to take a walk and calm down will benefit you more in the long run than sticking with the books ever will. It took me longer than I’d care to admit to come to this realisation. But sometimes, you need to just take a break.
Watch something funny
This is a something that I’ve done countless times. If you’re stressed, make sure you end your night by watching something funny and light on YouTube or Netflix. The same video I turn to every time I’m stressed is one on YouTube of Dara O’Briain, the Irish comedian, during one of his shows. Despite the fact I’ve watched this clip well over 20 times, it never fails to make me laugh.
Organisation is key.
To-Do lists can be your best friend. If you make a list of everything you have to do, and start working through it slowly, the satisfaction of crossing things off your list will be amazing. But don’t set unrealistic expectations for yourself either. Take thing one at a time and everything will get done in the end. Other things that work can be taking a shower, or tidying your room. If you have a tidy workspace / chill-out space, your mind will be tidier too.
Call your mum / a friend.
Sometimes you just need to talk it out, and personally speaking, there’s no one better to do this with than your mum. My mum has been on the receiving end of many of my tearful phone calls, and even though she might not enjoy them, I feel a whole lot better afterwards. She helps me to realise that the world is not crashing down around me. A chat with a trusted friend, sibling, cousin etc could be the remedy you’re looking for.
Get things into perspective.
See the last 2 lines of point four. When you’re feeling stressed and panicked, even just saying to yourself that this is not the end of the world can help massively. A year is a short time in a lifetime, and if the thing you’re stressed about won’t matter in a year’s time, it shouldn’t matter now. It all works out in the end. Please believe that.
Bonus Tip: The app, Headspace, has different meditations and breathing exercises to help with stress and anxiety!
Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash