Trying to deal with stress is an everyday struggle. Some people find strange ways that somehow work for them, but dealing with stress isn’t rocket science. There are multiple simple ways to combat stress that you can incorporate in your life wherever you may be.
Everyone deals with stress differently, but it doesn’t mean that we have to dig deep within ourselves until we find the best way that works for us. There are plenty of ways to deal with stress without having to spend more of our money and effort just for some relief. In fact, stress-coping methods can be implemented in our daily life with the resources that we have now. It wouldn’t hurt to try all of them out and find which one works best. There’s nothing to lose, anyway. Except maybe some stress.
Be clear on what needs to be done
It isn’t uncommon to be stressed out because of the overwhelming tasks that seem to just keep on piling up right before our very eyes. We may think that mountains of requirements are never-ending and that it’s just the price we have to pay for our relatively comfortable lives outside the workplace, but that doesn’t have to be the case.
If we take the time to zoom out, we may often realise that everything is actually alright. There’s actually no need to panic because these tasks are within our powers and we surprisingly have enough time. While it’s true that being given tasks on what seems to be every other minute can induce stress, it would serve us well if we put everything into perspective first.
Before complaining that there’s a boatload of work to be done, actually think about what needs to be done vis-à-vis the time that we have. Eight hours is a long amount of time. Also, there’s always the next day. Simply put, there’s no such thing as a scarcity of time. While deadlines do exist, proper time management is a thing, as well.
Once we set our goals right and we occupy ourselves with one task at a time, we may often surprise ourselves with how much we can actually accomplish.
Watch what you eat
Having a well-balanced diet doesn’t work wonders for just personal fitness. Eating healthy and nutritious food has also been shown to aid in stress management.
There are multiple ways as to how food can help in the management of stress. Different types of food also have different effects on our bodies and consequently, our mental state. For example, there are foods that can increase serotonin levels and lead to a calmer state, while other foods can reduce the levels of stress hormones in our bodies.
It wouldn’t hurt to do a little research on what diets can help in stress management while satisfying our palates at the same time. There’s unhealthy stress eating, but there’s also beating stress through what we eat. Who wouldn’t want a tasty meal that makes our body and ourselves feel better at the same time?
Start the day off right
If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, then it probably wouldn’t be outlandish to say that the morning is the most important part. How we go about our mornings plays a critical role in how the rest of the day goes. If we spend an hour on our phones and on social media right after waking up, we’ve already put ourselves at the difficult spot of having to squeeze in an hour’s worth of productivity into the rest of the day.
Instead of mucking about and wasting precious time in the morning, why not get a head start and give ourselves a chance to end the day early? Implementing a strict morning routine that should be followed to the dot is a good way of disciplining ourselves and making sure that we don’t set ourselves up for stressful situations.
A good morning routine that has worked wonders for me and my productivity goes like this: get up from bed as soon as I wake up, drink water, meditate, eat breakfast, take a bath, and then I’m prepared to face the day head on. This routine would take about an hour at most.
Instead of spending that first hour in the morning doing things that do not provide any tangible benefit to us at all whatsoever, why not spend that first hour preparing ourselves for the day? Not only do we make the most of our mornings, we also take steps in kicking our bad habits in the process.
If you haven’t been doing it yet, I highly advise incorporating meditation into your daily routine. Meditating helps in maintaining focus and reducing stress throughout the day. It’s a sure-fire way of starting the day off on the right foot. Plus, meditation has also shown promise in making us not just better employees, but also better leaders.
Stay active outside the workplace
The feeling of having nothing to live for except for work is one of the main things that causes undue stress. We’ve already established earlier that work doesn’t have to take every moment of our lives if our goals are set straight. But finishing what needs to be done is half the battle.
To truly overcome stress and live an overall fulfilling life, it’s important to strike a balance between work and self. We all know how precious leisure time is, but why not spend that leisure time in something that would also lead us to personal development?
Of course, everyone has different preferences and interests. At the end of the day, finding the best way to stay active is a personal choice. It’s up to you if you want to go to the gym and get jacked, or if you want to get creative and use art or music as an escape from the cycle of everyday life. What matters is being productive even when outside of work. By being productive outside work, we allow ourselves to relax and unwind while also improving our personal capacities and providing ourselves room to grow.
Establish a comfortable environment
The workplace and a comfortable environment might seem like utterly contradictory terms, but it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s possible to foster an environment at work where everyone can cope with the demands of the job in a healthy manner and even enjoy the everyday grind.
Creating a comfortable environment can start with something as simple as buying that chair to get rid of back problems and spend more time productively focusing on the task at hand instead of having to stand up and stretch every 30 minutes. It can also come in the form of cleaning up that cluttered desk and making the environment as pleasing to the eye as possible.
Trying to establish a comfortable environment is often not an individual effort. Since the workplace is filled with multiple people, it’s would be best to make creating a comfortable environment a team effort. A comfortable environment translates to a healthy workplace environment that will keep everyone’s spirits high in what would otherwise be a stressful environment. Needless to say, an environment that will help maintain a positive outlook within everyone at work is bound to pay dividends in increased motivation and productivity for all.
Leave perfectionism behind
While being the best at our field and churning out the best possible outputs is something that would definitely be ideal, letting perfectionism overcome physical and mental well-being is a risk that should be taken seriously. It’s impossible to do everything spotlessly at all times, so it’s important to let perfectionism take a back seat if efficiency and health are being sacrificed.
Moreover, perfectionism is a matter of personal opinion. What may be simply satisfactory for some may already be beyond perfect for others. This is why workplaces have standards that are already set.
The best way to work is to just give our best at every single task. Obsessively striving for perfection simply leads to overthinking and stress. By giving our best in everything we have to do, we don’t unduly burden ourselves with imaginary expectations and we also allow ourselves a margin for error and to learn from our mistakes. Mistakes are bound to happen, even to perfectionists. Those who excel in the workplace are not those who overthink every single detail of the job, but those who acknowledge their inevitable errors and use these errors as tools for improvement.
In Summary
Stress is inevitable, but letting it get the best of us is not. There is a multitude of methods to deal with stress and these are just a few, but these methods are simple ways that everyone can adopt in learning proper stress management.
Individuality plays a big part in how one manages stress, so it’s important to calibrate these and other methods with your personal preferences and lifestyle. In the end, the ultimate goal is to design a fool-proof way to not just survive, but to thrive amidst stressful conditions.
