Oh gosh, am I glad to finally see Friday! I’ve definitely got all of the *heart eyes* over here. It’s been an exhausting few weeks for me.
[bctt tweet=”8 Ways To Reduce Stress When Life Is Busy” username=”SummerTelban”]
I don’t know about you but one thing I have learned in life so far is that life can get pretty dang busy out of the blue. More often than not, you can never see it coming, so you never have time to properly prepare yourself for the whirlwind you’re about to be engulfed in. It can be rough. I know this kind of busyness all too well. How about you?
I know there are some people out there who only think negatively about being busy. I get it, I really do. But, honestly? That’s just how life rolls sometimes! Everyone experiences busy seasons in their lives.
I’m currently in one of those unexpected busy seasons right now and being super transparent, I have been so stressed out because of it. It’s not a fun place to be. When I get stressed, I grow extremely tense in every sense of the word. When I’m stressed, I find it hard to focus on the tasks at hand and I get easily overwhelmed with everything in front of me.
Even though I am up to my neck in to-do’s, I have been trying to remember how to breathe and center myself. Here are some things I have been doing my best to focus on to reduce my stress during this crazy, busy time of life. 🙂
8 WAYS TO REDUCE STRESS WHEN LIFE IS BUSY:
1. Don’t Ignore Your Stress // One bad habit that I have is trying to ignore my stress. I’ll try to convince myself that I’m not really that stressed out and then I’ll try to continue on with my tasks. Well, that never works out too well, haha. Ignoring my stress has only ever just brought on more stress for myself, as well as anxiety.
Acknowledge the anxiety and stress that you’re feeling, as well as any other feelings and choose to breathe. Acknowledge it all for a moment. Validate yourself that it’s okay to feel anxious and overwhelmed. Taking a moment to do just that can help you reset and start to find balance again.
2. Focus On You’re Breathing // I know that this is a *typical* thing people encourage you to do when you’re stressed out. As cliché as it sounds, taking time to focus on breathing properly, can help you stay grounded, instead of growing more anxious and overwhelmed. Something that’s been helping me when I really feel the stress adding up is to take deep breaths in and out. I’ll count to 5 each way and take at least 10 of them. It’s something very simple and takes less than a minute to do, but it can work wonders.
[bctt tweet=”As cliché, as it sounds, taking time to focus on breathing properly, can help you stay grounded, instead of growing more anxious and overwhelmed. ” username=”SummerTelban”]
3. Prioritize Well // Am I the only one who feels like it’s harder than ever to prioritize when you’re stressed out? When I’m stressed, it’s usually because I am holding everything to a high priority. While it can seem that everything on your list is a top priority, chances are, some of them are not.
Here are some tips that work for me when prioritizing well:
- List out all of the tasks
- Focus on the urgent ones first
- Order tasks by the effort they’ll take
- Leave room for flexibility
4. Let Go Of Expectations // Heyoooo… it’s about to get even more real here. When I look back at the times of high stress in my life, I realized that I always piled on more stress because of the expectations I was putting on myself. The fact of the matter is that sometimes a task isn’t going to get done the way or when you want it to. Yep, #realtalk. So, be willing to let go of expectations when you need to. Remember that you can do anything but you can’t do everything.
5. Don’t “Should” Yourself // I should have, I should have, I should have… sound familiar? If you’re somewhat of a perfectionist like me, you probably struggle with “should-ing” yourself quite often. The thing with focusing on what you think you should have done is that it only ever leaves you feeling shame and it prevents you from moving onward in a positive manner. It adds extra pressure when you’re already feeling the pressure of stress. So, don’t “should” yourself. Instead, after a task is finished or a situation is done with, simply move on and don’t look back.
I understand this is easier said than done. 😉 But, it does get easier the more you practice it.
[bctt tweet=”Don’t should yourself. ” username=”SummerTelban”]
6. Don’t Put Self-Care On The Backburner // Why is it that when life gets the tiniest bit busy we completely neglect self-care? That will always be the wrong thing to do, my friends. Like I have said many times here at CWS, self-care is not optional. Self-care is a necessity! To be straight-up with ya, I think that we need to focus on self-care all the more during the busy times of our lives. Remember that self-care isn’t some fancy practice filled with daily bath bombs and binging your favorite TV show. Self-care is simply the practice of caring for yourself in all aspects: physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual.
Related Reading: The 5 Dimensions of Self-Care
7. Do All Things With Intention // For myself, I have always tied intentionality and prioritizing well together. They go hand-in-hand, especially in times of high stress. To do all things with intention is to do all things with purpose. I find that when I get back to focusing on completing a task or figuring out a situation with intention, rather than panic, I can easily find balance and meaning again.
[bctt tweet=”When you focus on doing something with intention, rather than in panic, you will find balance and meaning again.” username=”SummerTelban”]
8. Be Patient With Yourself // When life is busy and I’m under a lot of stress, I tend to stray to the side of being nasty to myself. It’s something I’m working really hard on changing. Choosing to be patient with yourself isn’t easy but choose to look at it as a positive challenge. Give yourself room to grow during the busy seasons because yes, they are times of growth. Give yourself room to breathe. Give yourself an overabundance of grace.
[bctt tweet=”How To Reduce Stress When Life Gets Busy” username=”SummerTelban”]
If you’re going through a busy time filled with stress, I hope that these tips can be helpful to you to find balance and peace. What’s something that always helps you during the unexpected busy times of life? Let’s chat!
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