Learn to say no to demands, requests, invitations,
and activities that leave you
with no time for yourself.
Until I learned to say no, and mean it,
I was always overloaded by stress.
You may feel guilty and selfish at first for
guarding your down-time,
but you’ll soon find that you are a much nicer,
more present,
more productive person
in each instance you do choose to say yes.
Stress, burnout and physical exhaustion have become a way of life for many people. It is important that you feel that you can get a handle on what makes you feel stressed out, and diffuse the stress in different ways so that you can help to maintain both your physical and emotional health. A great deal of the stress that that people cause themselves, yes themselves, can come from their own thoughts and feelings about how things are going. Or sometimes they can come from your own actions.
If you want to be calmer and more relaxed, with less stress then here are a few ideas that may be helpful.
1. Get organized. You can plan as much as you want, but if you cannot find the project, the up to date list, or the correct information you were to work with, it can be pretty stressful.
2. List. Make a list of what you wish to accomplish, and then decide which are the most important things to do on that list. This way you can go to some of the less stressful items on the list if you start feeling overwhelmed.
3. Allow. Allow for interruptions and changes. If you schedule yourself so tightly that you cannot tolerate being interrupted for a few moments when something unexpected arises, then you may find yourself highly stressed. Chill out and accept that there will be some interruptions and you can handle those with grace.
4. Set proper expectations. Have realistic expectations of yourself and others. No one is superhuman. You cannot get three days work done in one day no matter how hard you push yourself or your colleagues. Make it a point to not wait until the last minute thereby putting so much pressure and stress on yourself with huge amounts of work with too little time.
5. Break time. Take some time for a break a couple times a day. This is like changing gears and allows your mind to rest and re-set for a few minutes while you do something more enjoyable, not something you have to do.
6. Exercise. Find some time each day to exercise or take a walk. This helps to burn off more stress.
7. Stop. Once you are done for the day, take some time to relax. Find some hobbies that you enjoy and that help to reduce your stress.
Stress is a natural part of life, but you also need to find ways to de-stress and not let it get the best of you. These stress management techniques and tips should help you find ways to manage your stress.
What else do you do to help de-stress?
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