https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week
1.
BREATHE
There are some wonderful breathing exercises out there that are designed
to stop people from getting overly stressed, as this may lead to panic attacks.
There’s an exercise that I was once taught in the Mindfulness component of
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. I often use it and find it helps relieve my
levels of stress. You start by sitting still, letting yourself feel
everything
that is touching your skin, your jumper, your leggings, the fabric of the seat
beneath you… And then – on both feet – scrunch up your toes and feel all of the
muscles tighten in your feet, and then relax them. Move slowly up each of your
body parts, tensing each muscle, being aware of it, and then releasing it. I
find that it really helps to slow your breathing and bring yourself to the
present when you’ve been stressing about what is coming – or what might be
coming!
2.
LIMIT & RIORITISE
Limiting how much you ‘take on’ in life can be a huge aid in reducing
stress! Personally, I find that any more than three things on my to-do list is
too much! And please don’t just yourself on the amount that might be too much
for you – if one is more than enough then that’s fine and if you can handle
five then that’s fine too! If someone asks you to do
something and you already
have too many things in your to-do pile then don’t be afraid to explain to them
that you have plenty of work on at the moment and if there’s no deadline for
what they’re asking of you, perhaps you can still do it. Limiting yourself
doesn’t have to mean that you miss out on opportunities. And this is where
prioritising comes in; it’s very useful to just check if anything you need to
do has a deadline – if it does, then that’s what needs to go to the top of the
pile. It’s hard though, when you might enjoy doing something else more but you
have to remind yourself how stressed you will feel if you leave your deadline
work to the last minute.
3.
TALK
Talking about feelings of stress and anxiety, can be really helpful in
getting an outsider’s view on your situation. It might be that another person
can help prompt you to look at things differently and see that perhaps things
aren’t as busy as you thought. Or,
alternatively, the person could help you to
improve aspects of your life that may help your feelings of stress. There’s
been many times when professionals and my Mum have pointed out that perhaps
lessening my workload a little would contribute to a less stressful life.
Sometimes it’s useful to talk to others who can point out things that you may
be storing in your subconscious.
#AD
You could also download the self help guide for stress from Northumberland, Tyne & Wear NHS Foundation Trust for free, here: https://web.ntw.nhs.uk/selfhelp/
Tomorrow I’ll be showing you lots of people’s different replies to the question: ‘How do you cope with stress?’