Stress Busting…

Do you really need to relax?  Do you feel a bit overwhelmed?  Perhaps you have been feeling the negative impact of stress for a while now…but you are so in the zone that you can’t really even give yourself the time to focus on what you might need.  Just keeping on, keeping coping, keep moving, fearing that if you stop you might never be able to start again.

We hear this time and time again from the women who choose to join us on our Stress Reset Retreat.  They reach the point where they know that something has to give and so before they go quietly mad, or fall into the abyss or burnout they come to us and reset.

We are here to support busy women reclaim a sense of balance, a natural energy,  a positive outlook and for some most important of all a good nights sleep.

If retreat resetting isn’t right for you right now then perhaps our  Stress Busting Tips can help.

Top Ten Stress Busting Tips

1. Plan your week so that you can factor in rest time. Not just time when you are not working.. because so often that gets filled with other peoples stuff very quickly. But actually, plan in some non-negotiable me time. Time to read a book, take a bath, practice yoga…whatever. But it has to be just time for you. Start with just planning in 30 mins of you time. That’s just 30 mins out of an available 10,080 minutes in the week. That’s doable, isn’t it?

2. Get Outside. We can spend days if not weeks racing from our front door to our transport, to work, back through the transport and back inside. Never taking time to just be in nature. Aim to spend 15 mins a day outside. You can walk, sit, jog, practice some yoga or mindful meditation…but you cannot read the paper, watch your tablet or catch up on social media. This is a time to unplug and reboot. You will be amazed just how much better you feel after even just a few minutes in the fresh air.

3. Eat Green. We often think of our mind as the organ most affected by Stress but actually, it’s our liver…by the time you are conscious of the negative impact of stress your poor old liver has spent months trying to keep your toxin levels in check. When your liver is overloaded you feel sluggish, tired, headachy, prone to infection and virus. By eating a clean diet that is low in processed food (more work for your liver) and high in Greens (supportive and cleansing for the liver) this means your liver is in better shape and so ultimately you are better able to cope with your stress reactions.

4. Know your energy curve and start to manage it. We all have an individual energy curve, by which I mean the amount of time your body takes to completely use the fuel you have provided until it reaches empty. On average it takes between 2 – 4.5 hours for this process. But it depends on the food type you eat.. for example if you have a coffee and a muffin and you will be flying for about 45 mins then you crash and burn. Your energy levels are rock bottom and you’d sell a kidney for a sweet treat. This energy crash adds to your biological stress. Focus your diet on high quality proteins and vegetable carbs for sustained energy and no crashes.

5. Have a Cup of Tea…not just any old tea. I’m talking about having a mindful cup of tea. Almost all of us have a hot drink at least once a day, but often its taken on the go, drunk without any thought. While at the same time we are so time poor we tell ourselves that we haven’t got time to be mindful. Turning at least one cuppa into a Mindful Tea every day can bring about amazing stress relief. ( I have written a whole blog on this.. Put The Kettle on its time to Relax)

6. Learn how to say no. Its such a small word isn’t it. No. But if you feel a surge of guilt, angst, fear or any other negative emotion when you say no to people then it really is time to learn to say no your own way. Saying no isn’t saying you don’t care, it isn’t saying you aren’t capable, it isn’t saying you are superior. Too often people shy away from No and add too many unnecessary Yes requests into their already busy schedule bringing unnecessary pressure into their lives. Just say no.

7. Embrace Tech. Technology should be enhancing our lives not sapping them. Are you using technology to make your life simpler? Online shopping and baking are given these days, right? You are doing that aren’t you? Using apps to streamline tasks, act as reminders, even using your phone voice record app to get stuff out of your head without the worry of forgetting it.

8. Reject Tech. (Tech is great…see point above ) but the problem arises when technology begins to encroach into every hour of our lives. When we are expected to be “ON’ logged in, contactable, engaged at all times. It takes it toll…mentally, physically and emotionally. How many of us cannot claim to have become a little bit addicted to some form of tech, be that checking work emails at midnight or a quick look at Instagram the moment we wake. Tech was always supported to make our lives easier so that we could spend time doing other stuff…the problem is we just spend our time using other tech. So for just one day each week, give yourself a digital detox. No surfing, no social media, no gaming. If that sound like the most ridiculous thing you have ever heard then you really need to detox digitally as it’s a sign that you might be addicted to tech. Just one day per week off the hamster wheel will give you time and perspective.

9. Forget About Sleep. It seems like the most ludicrous thing for someone who specialises in sleep and stress to say. Here’s the thing.. sleep is the first casualty of stress. When sleep becomes elusive then it quadruples your stress perception. You send hours through the night tossing and turning worrying about your inability to sleep, worrying about your ability to work the next day. You brain is so active with all the thoughts about elusive sleep that the last thing it can do is relax let alone sleep. So focus on rest instead… sleep will come in time..maybe not as much as you want right now…but it will come. As you begin to focus on rest and relaxation you mind begins to still, you re breathing begins to slow, your muscles begin to unwind and guess what? you begin to drift off.

10. Focus on Done rather than DO. There is always so much to do these days but that doesn’t mean you have to the person to Do it all. What matters is that its all gets Done..so its time to outsource, delegate, share the load and maybe even relax your standards a little. Cut yourself some slack.. you don’t need to the person to Do every chore, every report, every task. Share the load.

Let me know in the comments below which of these stress busting tips feels most relevant to you right now.

You don’t have to embrace every tip, you will know which are just right for you right now.  Start there and begin to create a cycle of calm and balance … you may just surprise yourself with how much more you can achieve without burning out.