How to Reduce the Stress in Your Life
Sometimes life is just plain stressful.
This past week, I had the privilege of presenting two virtual workshops for the students at the Florida A&M’s School of Architecture & Engineering Technology all about Mental Health.
While one was geared towards student life, the other on professional life after graduation, both discussions focused on how to reduce stress.
As you may know all too well, stress invades our lives on its own time—not ours.
Rude, I know.
Stress is the emotional distress and tension we experience when a “stressor” (or triggering event) pushes us in uncomfortable ways.
Sometimes it’s a deadline at work.
Sometimes it’s a pending bill to pay.
Sometimes it’s a creative block.
Sometimes it’s just being an adult.
The problem isn’t stress.
The problem is when stress is left unchecked and becomes burnout.
So how do we reduce stress and prevent burning out?
3 Ways to Reduce Our Stress
While I unfortunately can’t go into the same amount of detail in this brief message as I did in the hour-long workshops, I wanted to share three of the best highlights to help you manage your stress.
Identify the Stressors
One of the best ways to fight stress is to know what’s causing it. Without knowing the source of your stress—its “stressor”—it can feel nearly impossible to get away from it. Some common stressors to look out for:
School
Work
Family + Friends
Relationships
Money
Politics
World Events
What I find most interesting about the stressors in our lives is that they commonly have a mirror of sorts. Just as our family can bring us joy, they certainly also know how to push our buttons.
When you identify the stressor, you can begin to challenge it, suppress its influence, or remove it from your life altogether. Take back the control.
Keep it Simple
As human beings, we intuitively know what’s good for us. We also have terrible habit of overcomplicating those good things to the point that we don’t do them well or at all. Instead, keep it simple. If you get adequate amounts of these three things, you’ll become resilient to stress altogether:
Activity - 30 minutes of dedicated movement to get you up and about each day
Rest - 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night
Nutrition - A well-balanced diet of protein, fruits, and vegetables
I know you know this already. But it doesn’t hurt to remind ourselves once and a while. Adequate sleep alone will do wonders for your wellness and creativity.
Become Resilient
By using consistent effort to break down bad habits and build up better ones, you become a stronger version of yourself. You think clearer. You live longer.
Remove Bad Habits - Whatever the vices are holding you back, start by suppressing one at a time. The more bad habits you remove over time, the more space you’ll have for good ones.
Add Good Habits - Good compounds good. Use a good habit to build another. If you start to exercise more often, you may go to bed earlier to maximize your gains. You may starting eating better because it improves your performance.
Five Years Later
These types of efforts aren’t easy. They require dedication and change, but they do work.
Five years ago, I burned out from too much stress.
In that moment of rock bottom, I had two choices—continue on the path to ruin or make a change.
I made one change, then another, and another.
I began the process of rebuilding myself into the person I am today.
Five years ago (almost to the day), it all started with a simple promise to myself—No. More. Soda.
I haven’t had a single drop since.
Do I still get stressed out?
Sure I do.
Improving our wellness doesn’t completely reduce stress from existence. But it sure does make it easier to deal with it when it pops up in our lives.
Here’s to resilience and saying “No” to stress, no to burnout.
Cheers.
Until next week, here are links to what I’ve been working on and treasures I’ve found out in the creative wilderness.
Enjoy!
Recent Finds
Rich Roll — Be More Confident - Interview with Mel Robbins (YouTube) | A brief description of why I’m sharing this. What did I learn? Why does it matter? Why should someone take a closer look at it?
The Minimalists — Most Important Things Aren’t That Important (IG Reel) | A quick, friendly reminder that the thing that you’re worried about right now, probably won’t be something you’ll be worried about in a week, a month, or a year from now.
Ness Labs — Time Anxiety: Is It Too Late? (Blog) | I didn’t even know I had Time Anxiety (the fear of wasting time) until I read this fantastic post by Anne-Laure Le Cunff at Ness Labs. In some ways, Time Anxiety is like FOMO (the Fear of Missing Out). But it’s something more than that. Worth the read for sure.
Quote of the Week
“A mindset will not change the shitty situation you’re in. A positive mindset changes you—which changes your ability to deal with the shitty situation that you’re in.”
— Mel Robbins
That's all for now.
Stay creative, my friends—and have a great week!
