118. 4 Strategies to Feel Less Stressed

<p>I recently shared some strategies on Instagram that have helped me to feel less stressed:</p> <p><strong><span class="" title="Edited">1) Recognize that in most cases, stress is a choice.</span></strong> <span class="" title= "Edited">No one can *make* me stressed (or angry or sad or happy, for that matter). I can choose my response in any situation. I can’t always choose my circumstances, but I can choose my response. And my response is my responsibility.</span><span class="" title= "Edited"><br /></span><strong><span class="" title="Edited"><br /> 2) See stress as an indicator that something is out of line.</span></strong> <span class="" title="Edited">Instead of just assuming stress is a normal, unavoidable part of life, view it as a warning flag or check engine light. When I start to feel that tension rising in my chest, don’t just think, “Here we go again.</span></p> <p>3) Ask myself: What am I feeling? Why am I feeling this way? Where is this coming from? <span class="" title="Edited">I seek to go deeper than just the surface level feelings and keep asking why until I get to the root cause. For me, stress is almost always the result of me trying to micromanage or control something or someone in my life instead of resting in the Lord.</span><strong><span class="" title= "Edited"><br /></span></strong></p> <p><span class="" title="Edited">Note: So often, we want to just slap a bandage on stress (“take a bubble bath!” Or “eat some ice cream!”) instead of doing to work to dig into what’s underneath our stress and to unearth that and process through that so that we don’t just keep going back to the same feelings of stress over and over again.</span></p> <p>4) Once I’ve identified the root cause of my stress, then ask: What can I do about this? <span class="" title="Edited">Maybe some fresh air and sunshine or a nap or verbally processing with a friend or asking for help? For me, one of the best things is for me to stop, set my timer for a few minutes, take some deep breaths, and literally verbally release the