Lower Your Stress Level for Good

We are all busy living lives so full it is no wonder Americans have some of the highest stress levels of residents in any country. But, how are we supposed to slow down and ease our stress with so much going on? Even if we don’t feel unhappy or stressed on a regular basis, our daily habits and schedules make stress inevitable. No matter how good you feel right now, stress is going to catch up to you at some point (don’t I just sound like Debbie Downer?). It happens; it’s nothing to worry about overly much, but it is something we can prevent.

Exercise

In all seriousness, if you sweat you protect yourself from feeling too much stress. The natural high you receive from exercise is actually a stress-busting high that causes you to feel happy and relieved. You can prevent stress from overtaking your life if you just get some exercise every day. Even the things that should cause stress won’t cause nearly as much if you’re a frequent exerciser.

Relive the Good

Think about this; when your husband comes home each day, what do you fill him in on when he walks through the door? If you’re like I used to be, it was all the horrors that filled my day. It was the dirty diapers, the annoying people, the stress I encountered. I realized one day listening to myself talk to him that I would not look forward to coming home to him if he did nothing but seemingly whine about all the negatives of his day. So, I stopped.

Of course, I still share the things that are negative but important, but that’s not what I focus on anymore. I now focus on the good things. When he comes home at the end of the day, I tell him about all the deadlines I met that day, how I managed to get all four kids out of the house on time and how sweet our newborn twins were when they smiled at me for the first time instead of how stressful it was meeting those deadlines because our sweet newborn twins weren’t feeling well or how it almost killed me to get all four kids out on time. It’s time to focus on the good.

Schedule Joyful Moments

When life gets busy, most of us scale back. Unfortunately, we scale back on the things we enjoy the most. Stop. It’s time to scale back on things we don’t enjoy to make time to relax and actually find some pleasure in life.

(Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)