Relieving Stress: Try These 3 Effective Life-Long Working Techniques

Last updated on : June 11 2021

How To Relieve Stress

Stress is not uncommon. Every single day we experience it and have to deal with it.

Not all stress is bad but excessive stress can be damaging to our health. The key is to recognize stress for what it is and then put into place techniques and life-long habits that put you in control of your stress.

If I had a penny for each time something or someone stressed me, I would be rich by now. Sadly, the reverse is true for many people who spend a massive amount of money hoping to relieve stress.

Some choose a day spa, soothing massage, or a makeover to lessen or minimize the effects of stress. Some take trips, exercise more, and try to eat more healthily.

Many solutions may be okay for the mind and body short term. However, for genuinely effective relief, we need to establish life-long techniques for relieving stress - this implies a deeper understanding of stress management.  

Understanding Effective Stress Management

Effectively managing stress means adopting new life-long habits and techniques. Stress management techniques that you adopt for the long term are the secret to a long and happy, low-stress life. 

The following concepts will help you understand this better. 

1. Finding Your Center

In yoga classes, the instructor will often talk about "finding your center" or balance. This method is one effective way to relieve and then manage stress. Although it can be quite a challenge to find your center, the payout is substantial once you do.

Finding your center is about getting your life in balance. 

Imagine a wheel rotating around a point that is not the center. It wobbles and shakes, puts strain on the axle. It is not balanced. By entering the axle and letting the wheel spin around its center, everything starts to smooth out.

Imagine that your life is like the wheel. You are not at the center but somewhere near the edge. As life spins, things can become a blur. The faster your life is going, the higher the risk you will go spinning out of control. The further you are from the center, the faster things seem to go past. It is time to slow down.

Read More - 4 Habits That Are Unproductive—And How To Quit Them

2. Knowing When You Are Living On The Edge

Being on edge is a stressful way to go through life and relates to the saying "living on the edge." 

Living on the edge might be okay for a while - like right after a baby is born or you changing jobs or recovering from a divorce. After a little bit, though, it is time to pull back and find your life balance.

3. Achieving A Positive Life Balance

Life balance results from centering our thoughts and focusing our energies on those essential things. Family, friends, our home, work, life goals, and so on. 

Visit our page on self-love and care and see which of the techniques help you to slow down. 

The most valuable result of achieving a positive life balance, of course, is that it is a most effective way of relieving stress.

4. Understanding Expert Advice

Expert advice differs when it comes to relieving stress. Perhaps the one thing that is in common across all the recommendations is to find the one that suits you.

There is no single answer to relieving stress, although there are common themes to many techniques. It is not advisable to take a method that worked for your friend and attempt to force it onto your lifestyle. You may end up getting more stressed as a result.

5. Adopting New Life-Long Habits And Techniques

Below you will find three techniques to deal with stress. 

We have included these techniques to encourage you to find your life balance and achieve relief from anxiety and tension. And because they are simple enough to learn quickly and practice as new habits for the rest of your life.

Relieving Stress Tip #1 - Breath, Smile, And Visualize

If you are feeling the symptoms of stress, here is one effective way that works for many. 

The key elements for the quick relief of stress are:

• breathe
• smile
• visualize
• evaluate, and lastly
• fight.

Simply inhaling slowly and then gently exhaling could be enough to relax you when you feel the first signs of stress stirring. 

Take a nice deep breath every time you feel stressed. Repeat a few times if necessary. Make a habit of it, and you will feel relaxed after a short while.

It could be the way the neighbor talks to his wife set you "on edge." Maybe something as simple as one of your family leaving their dirty clothes on the floor rather than taking a few more steps and dropping them in the basket. Whatever the cause, try simple breathing to see if it works for you.

After taking in a deep breath, now comes the smile. Smiling for no reason has a unique way of pulling us up out of the doldrums. Sometimes when I smile at nothing, it starts me laughing at that same nothing. Smiling and then laughing does have a positive impact on my mood.

Then you visualize a favorite thing or memory that brings back pleasant thoughts. If your recent vacation is a happy memory, reminisce about the good times you had instead of focusing on the negative feelings that stress brings you.

It is important to acknowledge where the stress is coming from to fight it or resist it in the future successfully. Don't make excuses for your neighbor's treatment of his wife. Invite her over and talk about it. Doing so might solve two problems, yours and hers.

Relieving Stress Tip #2 - Write It Down

Believe it or not, a significant amount of stress can build up in our lives just by unnecessarily worrying about a few pending and often quickly dealt with decisions in our minds. 

The following list is an example of one such group of thoughts that you might be holding onto:

• When will I give notice at work?
• What will my new life be like?
• How will I fit my new training routine into my schedule?
• When will I have time for my boyfriend?
• What about finishing the diploma course I started?

It starts with you thinking about one thing, in this case, giving notice at work and cascades into a waterfall of stress. You let your life revolve around your pending decisions rather than staying balanced and in control over matters.

It's easy to let these types of concerns dictate how you feel, affect your sleep and even cause physical pain in your back and neck.

A solution is to start a journal, jotting down your concerns, together with the circumstances surrounding each one. Once written down, it often becomes much clearer what you need to do with each decision.

You can also try putting together a personal development plan to solidify what you want to achieve in the short, medium, and longer term. Doing this can shine a positive light on your outlook and help you sort out time commitments during a typical week.

As a result, giving notice at work turns out to be a breeze. Your boss is so supportive that you are leaving to pursue a dream. The training decision needed some input from your coach, who is more than happy to amend her schedule. In the end, the new routine works out better than before, and now you have plenty of time for your boyfriend and to finish your diploma. 

By writing down your concerns and the critical points about each one, you can see each in a clearer light. You can then deal with each decision on your terms and lift the weight of the world off your shoulders.

Relieving Stress Tip #3 - Treasure Your Family And Friends

Another great way to relieve stress is to get together with people you love or people who make you laugh. Spending quality time with your friends will do wonders.

Make regular dates with your friends, and you will look forward to those times where you can share your concerns. A problem shared is usually a problem halved. 

Don't just dump everything on them because we all have stress, but sharing in a caring way tends to help everyone lower their stress levels.

As a mom, the best technique for relieving stress might be playing with your kids. Kids can be so funny without them even knowing or meaning it.

Spending time with your kids makes them feel appreciated, and the interaction can immediately drain out stress as the love pours in.

Conclusion

A common mistake is to let stress manage our life instead of the other way around. Combat this by adopting new lifelong techniques and habits to deal with your anxiety.

Take the time to breathe, positively visualize, write down your concerns and issues, and spend time with family and friends. By doing so, you are likely to reduce your stress levels significantly.

Try these techniques today, and remember to consult your doctor or professional healthcare provider if you're experiencing uncomfortable levels of stress.

About the author: 

Diane H. Wong is a content writer and family coach. She spends her time working out family issues and solutions, sharing her experiences with others, and keeping up with advancing technologies. In her spare time, she is a research paper writer at DoMyWriting service.

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