I'm not joking.
Do you feel stressed? How do you know if you are stressed? Life has a way of making too many demands of us. The result is that we feel stress, which can have pretty harmful effects!
Am I Stressed?
Dealing with every day life can make us feel pressured, moody, worrisome, anxious, irritable, depressed, achy, sick or nervous. The way we react to stressors can be mental, emotional, physical or in the way we act. Stress overload can push us to a breaking point.
In a cruel, ironic twist of fate, my life has been going fairly smoothly, yet today something extraordinarily stressful happened. I am shaky, teary, sad, and definitely feeling fight or flight instincts. Stress happens because things in life happen. So, yes, I am very much stressed!
How Do You Cope With Stress?
It depends on the type of stressors in your life. Certain jobs people have result in more complex things to deal with, for example. Events occur that can create acute or sustained stress. The degree to which you are personally able to deal with stress can also determine how you cope. I feel stress mostly through muscle tension, which can lead to severe headaches.
If you feel like you are strained to the point of mental or physical exhaustion, you need some stress relief!
- Take time for yourself. I'm a working mom. Time for myself is sort of an oxymoron. You have to actively seek moments to relax. Go for a short walk outdoors. Find a relaxing hobby. Have conversations with your personal support network.
- Get rid of the stressors. Clear away negative people and situations as much as you can. Set realistic goals and cross a few things off your to do list. Eliminate the source of your stress.
- Change what you can and ignore what you can't. Sometimes things can't be changed. If you work in ER, the trauma will continue to walk through the door. If you can't change your job, find a way to be at peace with what you do. You cannot control certain things!
- Try meditation and aromatherapy. Find a quiet space where you can be alone. Breathe deeply and visualize the stress going away. Certain aromas can be calming and will help to melt stress away. Scents such as peppermint, lavender, jasmine, geranium and chamomile are known for their pleasant and stress relieving odors.
Coping with the pressures of life is hard. there is no doubt about that! But to ensure stress doesn't take over your life, you have to actively week ways to manage it.
In fact, just taking the time to have a luxurious bath can help reduce stress by improving circulation, relaxing muscles, enabling the use of aromatherapy, and allowing for personal meditation.
Skin So Soft Aroma + Therapy Stress Relief combines eucalyptus and geranium scents in bath foam, body wash and moisturizer.
