10 Tips on How to Tackle Stress

It is only natural that we get stressed in our lives and a lot of the time our careers contribute to that stress. Almost half a million cases of work related stress, anxiety and depression were reported in 2016. The key to success is being able to manage that stress and to feel much more positive with your life and with your career. Read on to find out how you to combat the stresses in your life and feel much more relaxed with the following 10 useful tips:

Let It Out

Many people dealing with stress, anxiety of depression keep it all bottled up inside. Letting it out and talking to someone instead of keeping it all to yourself can work miracles. Find someone you feel you can open up to; a friend, family member, colleague or even your employer. If you explain the pressure you feel you are under then your employer may delegate some of your workload to someone else which would really help you out.

Stay Positive

Positivity is a powerful tool. As the saying goes ‘always look on the bright side of life’ no matter how down you might feel there are so many good things in your life that you should be positive about. Your family, your home, your pets, these are all good things to focus on when you are feeling down or stressed about life.

Ignore Negativity

Unfortunately those that suffer from anxiety, depression and stress let negativity overrule positivity. Try to fight off those negative thoughts, if any start popping into your head then go and do something to distract yourself; make a cup of tea, go for a walk or listen to some music and try to relax. Let the positive thoughts over power the negative ones so for every negative thought that comes into your head think of two positive thoughts.

Fight Your Feelings

Anxiety, depression and stress are all feelings we have built into our systems and a lot of the time we are choosing to feel this way or we are letting certain things in our lives make us feel like this. It is a bit like the school bully, if you let them bully to make you feel sad then they have won but if you choose not to feel sad and stand up to those feelings then you can combat stress. So work may be getting you down but instead of reacting in a stressful way try to react differently and know that you will be able get passed this and move on with your life.

Stop Worrying

People who suffer from anxiety, depression and stress either look too far into the future or focus a lot on the ‘what ifs’ in life. This can make stress so much worse than it needs to be as you are constantly worrying about either something you cannot change or something that has not even happened yet. Instead you need to focus on the here and the now; the present.

Reduce Your Caffeine Intake

So many people think they need a coffee to stay focused or to stay awake but caffeine can actually make you feel so much worse. Coffee may be good to give you a quick spark but it can make your stress worsen, instead of coffee have some ice cold water or take a short break and have a walk in the fresh air, after all those offices do get stuffy!

Disconnect

We live in such a connected world with smart phones and social media and a lot of the time we are taking work home with us by checking our work emails on a Saturday morning. Why? You need to have some time to yourself to be you and to relax in your own space. Turn your work phone off, ignore emails and leave your work at the office to come back to on Monday morning.

Be Grateful

So you feel as though the world is on your shoulders? Why don’t you stop for a minute and be grateful for the things in your life. Family, friends and even your career. Some people struggle to even get a job and if you are employed then it is helping you enjoy most of the things in your life; paying for your home, your food, your clothes, holidays etc. Be grateful for those things and try to tackle the stresses of work life and be happy.

Get Some Sleep

Those who are so stressed out with work often work late into the night to try and take some of the pressure off the next day but by doing this you are simply burning yourself out. Sleep is a way to recharge the batteries and can help in making you feel refreshed the next day. It is important to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep a day to live a healthy life and combat stress. Instead of worrying about work at 2am in the morning get a good nights sleep and do the work in the morning.

And…Breathe

Those who are feeling anxious or stressed truly benefit by just stopping for a few minutes to breathe. As silly as it sounds it can really help you feel much more relaxed and bring your blood pressure down. Give yourself 5 minutes to just concentrate on your breathing taking in big breathes and slowly releasing them.

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