Stress is the feeling of being overwhelmed or unable to cope with mental or emotional pressure.
We all deal with stress differently. Our ability to cope can depend on our genetics, early life events, personality and social and economic circumstances.
Do you often feel unpleasant stress? Below are 12 healthy habits to avoid stress that you can develop.
Be Organized
Being organized is the first way to get rid of stress. An organized environment helps people to productive and efficient.
Infact, a disorganized home or office can quickly turn a normal day into a stressful one.
Clutter limits your ability to process information. Decluttering your physical space can help you declutter your mind. This often results in a cleansing experience, where you feel lighter, have more space to breathe and hence stress is reduced.
Creating a to-do list will also help you in getting organized and reduce stress.
So, try to wake up early in the morning, clean and arrange your space neatly and get on with your day following your to-do list and ticking off items you have completed.
Plan Ahead and Prioritize
People that are never stressed ensure that their time is always planned. When someone plans, it mainly involves making future decisions in the present.
A lot of time and energy goes into planning, but that is nothing compared to the stress involved in making plans in the moment.
Have Productive and Effective Routines
There are certain benefits to having a routine even if you don’t typically thrive on a strict schedule.
Having a routine can be helpful in times of unpredictability, uncertainty and stress. Implementing a structure to your day can give you a sense of control.
It can also improve your focus, organization and productivity.
Talk About your problems
In order to manage stress well, you need to learn to talk about your problems or things that are bother you.
They say, “A problem shared is a problem half solved”.
Talking about things can help shed more light on how to get through a problem.
It gives you clarity and some alternatives on how to go about it.
Also, when you know someone has your back, the emotional support can make all the difference.
Don’t worry about things you can’t control
Worrying about things you cannot control will not only waste your time but also drain your mental strength.
It can also lead to other toxic habits like blaming yourself too much and micromanaging other people.
In order to live stress free, you need to learn how to stop overthinking and overanalysing everything.
Practice Mindfulness
Mindful practices can help increase our ability to regulate emotions, decrease stress, anxiety and depression.
It can also help us to focus our attention, as well as our thoughts and feelings without judgement, as we become more present in our lives and in relation to others.
We begin to make better decisions as we are relaxed, to manage our emotions better and to be more fully engaged in life.
Set Healthy Boundaries
These boundaries are often protection against things that could attack our peace of mind. Do not allow things, people, and problems that you are not involved in to overwhelm you.
Employ a Positive Mindset
Positive thinking helps with stress management and can even improve your health.
Optimism and pessimism can affect many areas of your health and well-being.
The positive thinking that usually comes with optimism is a key part of effective stress management.
And effective stress management is associated with many health benefits.
To think positively doesn’t mean that you ignore life’s less pleasant situations.
It just means that you approach unpleasantness in a more positive and productive way.
You think the best is going to happen, not the worst. So practice positive thinking today and avoid stress.
Be Self-Disciplined
People who have greater self-discipline are well able to regulate their stressful thoughts more effectively, making those thoughts less intrusive and overpowering.
On top of that, people with good self-discipline are better at putting themselves into situations that support their goals and emotional well-being.
Avoid Procrastination
If you want to avoid stress, avoid procrastinating.
Procrastination is considered a stressor because it often causes delays and forces people to do things at the last minute.
Procrastination consequently leads to even more stressful situations.
When you put things off, you begin to suffer from a procrastination accumulation effect.
This is where you feel stressed for putting things off, and then feel stressed thinking about what you’ve left undone.
As you do this, you leave more things undone and feel overwhelmed.
Ask For Help
No one can live in isolation. We all depend on each other in one way or the other.
No single person can do it all. Being afraid to ask for help severely puts you at a disadvantage.
The ability to reach out for help should never be undervalued. Humans have made it this far because we were able to assist one another.
Asking for help is neither a sin nor a crime. It saves you a lot of stress when you can ask for help and receive assistance instead of taking all the stress by yourself.
Prioritize Mental Health
Taking care of your mental health is one of the best things you can do for yourself.
Mental self-care involves activities that help declutter your mind and reduce your stress levels.
Taking care of your mental health can seem difficult when life gets busy with work or school.
By scheduling time each day to care for your mental health, you can reduce your stress and improve your overall happiness.
