Stress is natural and it is unavoidable, but if you are exposed to it for a longer duration, it can cause you a great deal of suffering and many a times a chronic ailment that you may never get rid of. After you are already stressed, calming yourself down can become very difficult. An alternative would be to avoid it. Here are a few simple ways you can do that-
Identify stressors and plan to deal with them: Not everything stresses you; some things make you happy and consume your energy in positive ways while others drain your energy - identify them and develop a plan to deal with.
Organize yourself: Disorganized lifestyle can give you stress in small ways, but when all is put together, it can become big. For instance, if you are not organized then you will often find yourself running around to find things that you need urgently but do not remember where you kept. Organization in everything can get you a peace of mind as your mind tends to think in patterns and thus, working in patterns can help.
Stop Procrastinating: Procrastination is a very common problem with most people that brings them in the last hour, when they actually start working, when their pressure of completing a task is extreme. If you plan important things in advance and complete them for their importance and not emergencies, then the emergencies would not arise and you would not work under stress. For instance, if you get a mobile bill that you have to pay within 7 days, do not wait till the 7th day, but make the payment on the day you receive the bill and it would be without stress.
Reduce your commitments: Commitment gives you motivation to achieve things in life, but too much of anything can be dangerous. Some of you might think that you do not have too many commitments, but think - you commit to work, you commit to family, you commit to self, and there can be many small commitments within each of these categories. For ex. You commit to yourself that you will exercise, you will get promotion on a job, you will give best to your clients, you will do something to become famous in the world, you will be nice to everyone, you will do all things on your own, and so on. There are many commitments that go unnoticed but they are commitments so they count in your mind. Your mind feels the stress when there are too many small or big commitments. So, make a list of all the commitments that you have made to yourself and see if you can eliminate any. For instance, can you stop thinking about becoming famous for now? Can you take help from someone to share the burden of your commitments?
Slow Down: People say that you need to run fast to stay in the race, but who are you running for? You may not even know who are your opponents in the race? Then why not slow down and walk. Look around and see if you really need to run so fast. Do you really have someone to overtake? Take a break, relax and then think in peace what next step to take.
Simplify things with to-do lists: To-Do list is a way to organize and remember things. You can use your computer or even a small diary to make a daily to-do list of your work. This sounds simple, but it can do wonders for your mind. Your mind feels stressed when it has to keep things inside and remind you the same. When your list goes on the paper or a device, the burden of remembering goes away so your stress is reduced.
Eat Healthy: The importance of a healthy diet cannot be stressed upon any less. Eat food that gives you energy like almond, banana, oatmeal, salmon, and so on. Some food items can also help you directly reduce stress, such as milk, blueberries, spinach, avocado, and oranges. These items in your diet would keep you alert and calm.
Exercise regularly: Regular exercises keep your blood circulation in control and help all your organs stay in shape. Exercises also directly affects the mind by making it produce chemicals like endorphins that are natural pain killers and also help in improving your sleep, which in turn reduces your stress.
Help Others: Helping others gives you a strange sense of relief and your mind feels calm and composed, but remember that help means doing something for others without expecting anything in return. With the pure intention to help, your mind would be calm and free of stress.
Stay away from difficult people: Some people fight with you for no reason, give you stress by being dominating or rude, and make you do things that you do not want to. Demanding people can give you a real stress. Unless they are the ones you love and cannot completely avoid, try staying away from them as they can have negative influences on you.
