Best Tips to Relieving stress that no one talks about: You’re probably thinking you’ve landed on yet another blog about Relieving stress using scientific research and studies. Well no, in this post we will get up and personal with what you are feeling and how you can get rid of the constant stress that’s building up.
So before sharing the so-called “tips on relieving stress” which you will find literally everywhere. I’m gonna actually share something useful first.
Which nobody tells you… seriously.
Stress is nothing more than taking a small picture of your problem and exaggerating it in your mind.
It usually begins with a single negative thought and if we pay attention to that single thought, it would give rise to another similar thought.
And eventually, those thoughts would turn into a storm of negative thoughts, leaving you confused and making you think irrationally about most of the things.
We need to somehow remove stress completely from our lives and for that, we have to understand what is worrying and stress actually?
And yes, worrying is natural.
Because random thoughts (either good or bad) come to our mind daily and sometimes we do pay little attention to a few of them and then think about something else.
That is how it is a natural process.
But…
If we choose to put more of our attention to the more negative thoughts and become obsessed over them, then yeah they may grow stronger and stronger and we might feel a train of such thoughts running in our mind, making our lives so much more miserable and depressed. this is when you need to practice the art of relieving stress
Let me put it in another way.
You might not be aware but your brain processes and stores all of your thoughts, it’s relevance to your practical application is what determines if the thought is stored for long enough. Even a passing thought is stored in the brain and processed as relevant or not.
So, when you choose to think of a negative thought. Your brain fetches it. If not stopped and the trail of negativity continues then these thoughts will eventually be stored in your brain as relevant thoughts.
Neurons in your brain literally go and find it like you try to turn on the lights in the dark.
But as you keep on fetching those thoughts. The path becomes clearer and clearer.
And it becomes easier for your brain to get those thoughts
You become a “negative person”. A tensed person. A person searching for stress relieving tips on the internet perhaps!
Once you get obsessed with these negative thoughts, you won’t be able to get rid of them easily because our minds are more drawn to negativity than they are to positive thoughts.
So what do you do?
You practice thinking positively. But first…
We have to make you positive.
I know, it’s easier said than done but hear me out… I’ve been there… Oh we’ve all been there.
There comes a point in life when the monster under your bed finally emerges ( the stress in this scenario) when you are actually done with your job, relationship, friendship, or the current situations in your life, so much so that it feels like everything is just going to go down the hill. You feel like you have had enough.
But, you are not alone.
Everybody feels that way.
Point is you don’t permit it to take the better of you. You can always kill stress from its roots.
If you are facing a lot of stress in your life. You simply need to write all those problems on a piece of paper and then try to find a solution to it.
Remember, it feels like nothing now, because it’s easier for your brain to get those negative thoughts. Just do it.
Don’t just obsess over them. Write them. It really works.
At least with that negative brain of yours, you can start handling one thought at a time. That will at least make you stop panicking.
Instead of thinking about them and crowding your mind with the mixture of all those problems you will be only thinking about one problem at a time.
In other words, you will organize those thoughts in your brain.
Pause your life for a while and settle down whatever is stressing you rather than trying to walk along with it. There are always ways to look up to.
Are there people putting stress in your lives.
Is there a relationship problem? Do you hate your job? Did you get into a huge argument or fight? IT’S OKAY!
Point is there is always a solution. You just need to find it!
Cherish the good things and good things will come your way. Stay happy! Learn to be happy and positive.
When negative thoughts reside in our minds for a longer period, the fear produced by worrying directly affects our mental as well as physical health. It sometimes has a disastrous effect on our behavior and personality as well.
Whenever negative thoughts come, do not serve them tea and do not even give them even the tiniest of attention. Try to think positively and change course of your thoughts.
What happens next?
After when we become obsessed with our negative thoughts, they turn into negative mental images, negative perceptions, and negative emotions and thereby drag you into the world of negativity.
If you want to get rid of the nagging thoughts whenever they pop up in your head and want your inner peace back.
80-85% of the things we worry about never actually happen
Yes seriously.
We worry because we think that the things which are fearful might happen to us.
Next time whenever you are done with worrying, realize how many of those bad things/thoughts actually happened to you?
We do not face those fearful situations with the same intensity as we think.
Therefore, instead of worrying about it, stay calm.
So now, let’s make you positive. What is the solution
Table of Content
How You should practice Relieving Stress
One word. Meditate.
It will change your life I promise you. No more excuses please.
It’s 10 minutes of your life daily.
That’s the only way to make your mind positive again. Make those negative paths full of hurdles in your brain.
And those positive paths highways for neurons to travel on.
Just sit, close your eyes, and try to empty your mind. Well, that’s what they tell you…
What they don’t tell you is it’s not about just emptying your mind, because you can’t.
It’s about just thinking positively.
Clear your mind. And feel like you are somewhere where you always wanted to be. With everything perfect in your life. And you are just happy.
Choose a single positive thought and just focus on that.
That’s it. Now I will share other “Tips on stress relieving” with you guys…
Start reading from today
Psychiatrists suggest that books could be our good friend’s in a bad time.
Read an inspiring book and underline the best quotes that you find in the book and then try to find its meaning and apply them in your life.
You would feel better.
Do not think what people think of you (they don’t)
Don’t give a F on “whatever people say”!
Never waste your precious time worrying about what people may be thinking about you.
Are you afraid of being judged?
You cannot make everyone happy and it is not even your responsibility to please others.
Do not procrastinate
Get it??
When we keep piling up work in our lives, we become stuck!
We become this “Avoider” who always has some sort of excuse to pile on some more.
And the thing is we start waiting for a perfect moment to “un-pile” all that burden, but that moment never comes and the only thing that happens in life is that we start worrying.
We get worked up way too easily and become this tense person because we are always thinking about the things left for the very last moment.
Unfinished work creates tension.
Always get your work done on time.
Socialize as much as you can
When you share you get way a lot less tense. This happens because “problem” or whatever we are worried about is like, a burden on our hearts, and when that is removed we get this good feeling.
I have studied a lot about “sharing” and of course there is more to it if we think logically.
I have found that negative things are shared more often than positive ones.
There are few emotions (negative) which act as a catalyst to sharing (if that made sense).
I will give you this: By socializing and hanging out with friends, having deep conversations with the right people could save your time from worrying.
But share positive stuff. There no way there is nothing positive in your life.
Don’t tell me you don’t have a single little thing to be happy or greatful about.
Share that with someone.
Stay in the present moment
I know this point is out there but it is still worth mentioning because of its significance.
This is one of the most important tips for people who want to get rid of their negative thoughts.
The advice which I would like to give here is that: Never obsess over what the future holds for you and never feel curious about it either.
Because the future is all set out there for you on the basis of how you treat your present.
Try out diaphragmatic breathing
Did you know that by breathing slowly and deeply could activate our vagus nerve?
Vagus nerve is the longest of the twelve cranial nerves also known as cranial nerve X. Who cares right? Well, it’s important.
This nerve is responsible for keeping the heart rate constant and counters the stress response. Okay, forget about this medical stuff.
It’s just breathing deeply. Just take deep breaths. That’s what I’m saying here. Go search Eric Ho on Youtube. He has talked alot about this.
Just try out this belly breathing with closed eyes while sitting in a relaxed state and you will enter the state of relaxation within 10 minutes.
Also look in to SLL meditation technique
Psychologists around the world suggest the worried patients, to attempt the “stop-look-listen technique” to break the chain of negative thoughts and grip of anxiety.
In this technique, the first step is that the psychologists ask the patients to stop worrying.
The patients are supposed to mentally say “STOP” in their minds.
The next step is to “LOOK” around their external world to come out from their inner feelings of discomfort.
And finally, the patients are expected to “LISTEN” to phrases such as ‘this too shall pass’, ‘everything will be fine’ or ‘all is well’.
This technique has been effective with many patients around the world.
To be honest, it works for some and doesn’t work for the others.
The wonders of citrus-scented oils
The scent of citrus fruit could bring miracles to your life they say. It could reduce the feelings of discomfort and anxiety.
Nutritionists suggest that even by sniffing orange oil, half of your worries about the stressful life event would release.
Look. I know one thing. Smell triggers emotions very quickly.
Even a quick smell could make a huge difference.
Do you remember the smell of a happy moment in your life? Can you somehow bring it back? If so do that.
Participate in other activities
Engage yourself in the activities that you often don’t like or the ones you don’t perform in your daily life.
Distracting yourself with another activity could be helpful in getting the things you worry about ‘out of your head’.
The change of focus on something else sometimes could be most effective for your mind.
Stop spending too much time on social media
In our post on Social media: bitter or better, we clearly mentioned the side-effects of it which worry you more.
The time that you spend on the internet like refreshing your Facebook newsfeed or replying to anonymous tweets won’t do any favors for your mental health.
Recent research on online addiction has revealed that the people who spend plenty of their time on social media become addicted to it that being away from it makes them worried and uncomfortable.
It has been strictly advised by the mental health professionals to kick this online addiction and establish some control over the technology.
Listen, I’m not saying lay off social media completely. Read positive stuff.
Just don’t get into negative stuff.
Stop worrying about the things you know you can’t change
Like you ate an extra cookie in the evening and now you’re worried about your waistline.
Or you know you will not be going out with friends at night and you still worry whether it will rain outside.
Here the common denominator in all such situations is that you worry about the things you can’t change – so stop worrying to prevent your life from additional stress.
It’s the time you learn to stop worrying.
Make one phone call to your closest friend
People under stress do not feel like talking to anyone most of the time, but sometimes sharing your stress and thoughts with your closest friend could help you to determine whether your worry is worth worrying about or is completely irrational.
Close friends could give us the most sincere advice more than anyone else and they do unload some of the weight we carry in our mind.
Maybe they could help us in accepting the truth that there is no point in worrying.
Thoughts are like monsters that occupy our minds. It is easier to control thoughts in the beginning but hard to handle when they grow stronger.
Therefore, it is advisable to control them using the above-mentioned tips as soon as you encounter them.
So how to live a worry-free life? When someone asks you, how you are or how you are doing, there isn’t much to say rather than I am fine, I am doing well and so on.
But once those words escape your mouth, don’t you think for once that why can’t you replace I am fine with I am great or I am doing well with everything is going wonderfully?
And then there are a set of people who are always so peppy within themselves that it looks like some remarkable, background music is playing in their life.
They seem happy, content, and much satisfied with their life.
They don’t seem to be stressed much. And then you envy them a little but don’t ask yourself how do they manage to do it?
How do they manage to stay stress-free most of the time? Everyone wants a stress free life, don’t we?
We all want to dance all the worries away, yell the problems to rush off, and so on.
But only a few of us get there!
We aren’t able to gather a lot of motivation to practice a stress-free life, right? For that, you can read my article on how to reboot your motivation.
Remove the Stressors
But what if the stressors are your friends?
The ones you have to meet daily?
It gets really hard to get rid of them. But here is the tip; if you can’t remove them from your life; disarm them!
The key here is to keep company with people who uplift you in all positive manners and the existence of those who try to bring the best out of you.
If there is anyone who becomes a cause of stress for you, distance yourself from them. Sometimes it can be really hard but then you need to think about how you want your life to be.
Are you OKAY with them playing around with your feelings and dirtying your life?
So if you can’t get rid of them completely, you need to disarm them.
Whatever they do to hurt you or whatever toxins they produce in your life; make sure you don’t take it to your heart.
The more responsibility you give them, the more they will try to stress you out.
Read toxic people quotes.
Be Honest
As House always says “everybody lies”, he is right! We all lie and when we do, we get this burden of “what if they can spot that lie” and we stay under constant stress.
People who are in a habit of lying all the time stay under constant stress.
So what is the cure?
Don’t lie, stay honest. But do not get in to trouble too lol.
Honesty is the key to all good that you want to happen in your life.
Honesty is known as a great stress reliever.
Again, I am not saying to always stay honest.
That can get you in trouble, I mean there are some situations when you’re totally supposed to lie. Just don’t make lying a habit you know.
If you don’t want any burden on your shoulders or heart, try being honest to others and to yourself (above all). Acceptance is the very first stage of honesty and it is going to take you to wonderful places.
Be Appreciative
Stop regretting. What’s done is done! Stop being ungrateful. There are always things to look up to!
If you try to stop for a while and look around you and within your life…you will see a lot of things that you can be grateful for! This is where we turn our lives upside down; we lack the feeling of gratefulness. We take that comfortable bed, car, and a filled wallet for granted.
All we want is more. Taking some time out of your day, to thank God for all you have and to appreciate whatever you possess, will make you feel less stressed. This is a way you will be looking on to the brighter side of your life, rather than the sadder one.
And that is what erases the feeling of anxiety or depression best. Wishing for a stress-free life and gaining it gets a bit tougher.
Everyone desires it but only a few get there.
However, it is only about how you think, which brings in the changes in you and makes you a better person and helps you in bringing radiation in your life.
Remember that ignorance is bliss!
Just stay grateful and positive.
Remind yourselves these things daily.
Involve in gardening:
Whenever my mother was indulged in gardening, I never found it wonderful, to be honest.
For me, the writing was the best ever thing to do when I was free or you know, or just reading a great book?
But then, one day I saw my mom totally indulged in gardening and she hardly remembered that it was “our tea time”.
So I decided to make her a cup of tea and she was quite shocked by how fast the time passed by.
That is when I realized that yes; people do say it right; gardening is a great hobby to opt for.
It makes you go away from the worries of the world and you are all dedicated to those tiny plants and leaves.
Gardening relaxes the mind of one being and that is what flowers are well-known for.
And of course, oxygen… and alot of it.
So if you aren’t much of a writing person; maybe you can try your hands-on gardening.
Listen to Calm Music:
Oh, how soothing it is when I play “Air on the G String -Johann Sebastian Bach” on my Electric Guitar.
It relaxes me so much.
It’s in D major scale and it just releases ones all tension away.
Just put your pedal on some nice distortion and some cool delay and play anything. If you are a guitarist, you would exactly know what I am talking about here.
Isn’t it simply awesome? And see how calming it is. I think when it comes to stress, the best remedy is music.
Music is very powerful. It can manipulate our emotions.
It can make us sad and at the same time happy too.
It can make you remember your deepest memories and of course makes you forget all the worries of this world and takes you far away into your fantasy world.
Do It Yourself:
Yes, I am talking about the DIY’s here. They seriously drag you out of your stressed world and expose you to something new and creative. DIY is all about staring down at a video and creating something new.
Get into crafting. Get some crafting tools.
It might be creating something old in a different manner.
For example, you can look up for DIY for lamps and you are probably going to find endless variety for it.
You can create one single thing in so many different ways that it becomes a lot more exciting.
A lot of people love DIY’s and it makes a great hobby.
It is not important that you need a lot of supplies; it is all about getting simple materials and creating something out of them.
You certainly need to buy the supplies if you are dedicated to your hobby. It all depends on the time you are willing to dedicate to it and how much you adore doing it.
If you want to beat stress, then take out some time from each day for DIYs.
You can also start making something and make it gradually in 2-3 days or maybe a week.
This way you won’t have to put in a lot of time and you won’t always be creating something (which makes it hard to adjust everything in your room).
And sometimes, you can simply watch the DIY’s and have a great time.
Exercise… of course
For me, exercising means lifting weights, but It can be anything for you.
It can be a mere walk at the very least.
But tell you what after coming out of the gym, I get this feeling like I am high, seriously. I mean all those tensions of work…home…assignments…blog…job…GONE!
I mean all of the anger, negative energy, hatred, or whatever names you wanna give to these toxins turn into what one may call positive energy and that energy is all utilized into my exercising and lifting heavyweights.
Is exercising I think one of the best Old School Hobby to beat stress?
Agreed?
Beating Stress in the 21st century is like playing with fire; next to impossible, right?
Who has time to ditch the daily routine and do something out of the way? But just sometimes…you need to notch everything down and bring some peace to your mind and body.
So opt for some hobbies which make you feel relaxed and you forget about all that is happening around you!
Look into complex dumbbell workout.
There exist some of the best mind-calming hobbies for people with anxiety and stress.
Stress is something that is surely going to come your way sometime in your life.
Even if you push it away with all your force or you close the door and put 8 chairs in front of it; it is going to come in, tearing apart that door.
At one point in your life; it does come in, without knocking on your door. But where science tells us that stress is the villain, a little of it, is like a hero.
Or let’s say, something lesser than a hero. Science says, a little stress is good but having too much of it is not.
From scientists to psychologists, everyone says one statement to make you feel like; beating stress is nothing more than punching your boxing bag.
And yes, if you punch your boxing bag really hard for like 5 minutes, you are going to feel much better.
But your fingers might hurt later…(speaking from experience)
But can I just say that punching down stress is not all about that poor boxing bag that is hanging in your room?
It might feel like one of the unluckiest bags ever to have landed in the room of a person who is filled with stress.
So how can you beat stress, without beating your pillow, or that boxing bag of yours? Just lift weights. Do some HIIT. (High Interval Intensity Training)
Get in to Photography:
So the misconception of photography being really expensive is spreading like girls spread gossip.
Seriously!
Everyone talks about how expensive the art of photography is.
This is because of all we think that photography is related to those “high-end quality” cameras and those “off the edge” lenses.
But we aren’t talking about a profession here, are we? We are talking about a hobby!
And to be honest, you can do that with your smartphone as well.
And why do you even invest endless dollars in a smartphone when you can easily get a 200 $ one, which almost takes as good of a picture as any other.
They are all somewhat the same these days. There isn’t much difference.
Also if you know how to root your phone (which is very easy by the way and all those “your phone will die, don’t do it” and sh*t are all just myths and rumors, trust me).
Use your phone to capture things you love.
You can do some Sketching:
If you are a great sketcher than this one is surely for you, but then I guess then you already know that how calming it is to just focus on that piece of paper and escape all the stressful thoughts.
I mean one can simply grab a pencil and start drawing and can summon their good old memories or anything good that happened in their past life.
But those of you who are not into sketching, just know that a lot of experts say that sketching beats down stress temporarily but it’s too affordable so why not?
You can learn it too if you totally suck at it, you don’t have to be professional.
Just watch a video or two in your free time and you are good to go.
It also keeps your mind focused and stress automatically runs away.
Can you Cook?
Who doesn’t love food? And ladies if your husband doesn’t know how to cook; he sure loves to eat, right?
But a lot of men now cook gladly!
However, no matter which gender you are, if you know how to cook and you love to cook, then you can beat stress at a 100% rate.
Cooking is a hobby that makes you forget everything around you or everything that stresses you.
All you remember is that aroma in your kitchen and all you can wait for is the dish to get ready!
All I can make is scrambled eggs and tea.. but they do calm me down that’s for sure. (If the AC is cranked up that is)
Conclusion
So here you go with the list. With the Tips.
The most important tip if you skipped the content. (Facepalm) Is Meditation.
If you haven’t read it, please read the intro of this post.
If I have to sum up the whole post in just a few words. I would say just try to make your mind positive.
What does this mean?
This simply means that you need to think, act, speak, and radiate positively in your life.
Thinking positively is certainly the very first step as I mentioned earlier, and it is quite tough also.
But once you start kicking out negative thoughts or blocking them, all you will have in your mind will be positive thoughts. Secondly, speak and act positively.
A lot of people will come in your way to this.
They will say or do something which totally enrages you but you are going to hold on to that and try being positive for yourself only.
And once you do all this, you are going to shine and radiate positively.
You will have your own sunshine and you won’t give anyone permission to take it away from you.
Likewise, you are going to try to spread it, among people around you.