10 things to sooth Stress and Anxiety

 

Top 10 ways to sooth and relieve stress and anxiety

    Anxiety. My long life nemesis. I have found that sometimes it takes hours or even days to ease my anxiety after a trigger. At times my dreams (not nightmares) will trigger anxiety that affect the whole following day. Sometimes I won't even know the trigger and I will just sit with the physical feelings and responses of anxiety. Which is very stressful, which triggers more anxiety. I have found myself in this situation quite a bit over the last couple of years.  I have also found I have different types of anxiety with different symptoms corelated to different triggers

     The last few months have been particularly difficult. Today is one of those days where I had a trigger over 8 hours ago but I am up, kept awake because of the tension in my chest, tightness in my throat an overwhelming sensation I am supposed to be doing something looming over me without any idea of what it is, and a very activated mind with a steady flow of thinking. 

    I am mostly confident that my anxiety isn't a serious condition. I feel that my anxiety (just as my depression) is mostly created and fed by my current situation. So life likes to test all of us. It throws something at us and we can handle it, so it adds more and more until 1) I have cracked. or 2) I have proven my strength. Either way I learn something, usually in retrospect. So this last few weeks has been sort of like that. Throws a weight on me, and then another and another. There have been moments this week where I just wonder how am I going to make it through. These are the times where I tend to have tunnel vision. It's harder to be positive but I keep moving forward until I am out of the situation. 

    I know most if not all of us have these or similar experiences. I am sure there are people who either are so set with their rose colored glasses they don't acknowledge stress or people who have become so disciplined in spirituality and life that they realize there is no need for it in any situation, other than life or death. I want to share my tips for relieving the stress and anxiety of when life likes to throw everything at you.

* I am not a licensed doctor or medical professional at all. If you have or suspect you have a clinical form of anxiety, please search out a doctor for diagnoses and treatment. I am only giving stress relieving tips and suggestions.

• I try to first analyze my anxiety/stress and ask myself what is bothering me

    It might sound silly, but identifying the trigger or root cause helps relieve some of the stress and can also help pinpoint possible resolution for it. But I only do this if I don't know why I am feeling anxiety or stress. Once I know I try to re-direct my focus to the solution and away from the problem.

• 1. Self- coaching/ Self-rationalizing/ Affirmations/Positive talk

    Positive talk and self love talk is such a key to overcoming stressful times. If you are being mean or hard on yourself over situations even ones outside of your control it makes the burden even heavier and the effects last even longer. Think of your best friend, or your most favorite person on the planet. Would you be mean and belittle them if they were having a challenging day? I hope not. They wouldn't deserve that. Neither do you, treat yourself like you are the most important person in your life, because you are.

• 2. Hydration and healthier diet

    Our bodies are the vehicles for our souls. If we don't nourish and  take care of them they will suffer, begin to stress and break down. Dehydration stresses the body, lowering blood pressure and making your heart beat faster. Sometimes simply drinking more water or choosing a healthier food option can change the whole projection of your day, week, month or even year.

Check out this article about dehydration from Optum Perks 

Check out this article on diet from Dieting Well

• 3. Deep breathing

    Just like a good hydration and nutrition we need ample oxygen. When we get stressed out, worked up or experience anxiety we tend to take shorter shallower breaths. It pumps up our heart rate. Adrenaline seems to run rampant for me. But the benefits of deep breathing is reducing heart rate, relaxes muscles, and brings a calm.

 

• 4. Earthing

    During the warmer months this is one of my favorite methods to help sooth my stress and anxiety. I hadn't heard of it before last year, but I am so grateful for it. It helped me through the hardest things if my life. Just to intentionally walk, sit, lay in the soft grass of my yard and reconnect with the vibration and energy of the earth.

Check out the full article on earthing here

• 5. Incense and Aromatherapy

    Burning incense or using lavender essential oil in my diffuser helps with de-stressing, anti-anxiety and helping you to find your peace and calm. I am just relaxing or calming one of my senses, to help calm all of my senses. 

There are many benefits to aromatherapy. This article from Sublime Life has many oils, uses and benefits included.

Here is a great article on the benefits of  burning incense from Mindbodygreen.com

• 6. Mindfulness/Meditation

    Being mindful helps bring and keep your focus on the now. Anxiety has a lot of focus on the future. So when you bring your focus to the now and just take each moment as you're in it, anxiety can subside. Meditation helps bring a calm to your mind, spirit and body, while reducing negative emotions.

• 7. Music

    I have found that depending on the type of stress or anxiety I am feeling, different types of music help in different ways. If I am starting to feel lost or disconnected from self because of the constant demands of the world; listening to my favorite music (usually punk or rock) brings me back into me and helps(metaphorically) shake of the dust of negative vibes and refreshes my energy. Other times I'll need calming music or soothing nature sounds to drown out the over stimulations of the world around me and relax the tensions built up inside. 

    This video is one of my most favorite that I have made to date. I have noticed the ease of tensions and stress so quickly even though that wasn't the intention of the video when I created it. I am quite happy with this beneficial side effect.

• 8. Rest/Sleep

    Sometimes I find that when nothing else works, to take some time to rest. Either take a nap or a good nights rest. Often I wake feeling much better.

Check out this article from MedicalNewsToday.com about the benefits of deep sleep for anxiety.

• 9. Exercise and yoga

    

    Exercise distracts from the anxiety, while releasing tension from your muscles and your brain releases feel good mood enhancing hormones. Yoga, has the benefits from stretching, exercise, meditation, mindfulness and healthy breathing, all wrapped into one.

Check out this article about the Underrated benefits of exercise from cheatdaydesign.com

This article from verywellmind.com is very insightful and educational about the benefits of exercise and mental health.

Here's is a great article from PsychologyToday.com that tells of the benefits of yoga for the relief of stress and anxiety.

• 10. Grounding

    I do admit this is a technique I have seen everywhere I have not utilized it. I wanted to share it anyway to help anyone who might need it. I think it is very beneficial, bringing you back into your body and into the present moment through your senses.

The full article is here

    I know there are so many other techniques for helping sooth stress and anxiety such as using stones, tapping, or scripting/journaling; yet as I stated with the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding these are techniques I haven't used before but I see often. I hope you take the time for self care and self love. Especially in trying times to relieve the harsh effects of stress and anxiety, to live a fulfilling happy life. 

Find balance. Live well. Be happy.

Photo Credit for opening Image to realworkhard - Pixabay

Photo credit for Anxiety Affirmations is Pinterest / mindbodylife.net

Photo credit for healthier diet is Pinterest / dietingwell.com

Photo credit for Deep breathing is thegoddesspsyche.com

Photo credit for Earthing is stephsocial.com

Photo credit for Underrated benefits of exercise is cheatdaydesign.com

Photo credit for Grounding is LoraDevries.com

Photo credit for closing Image to mohamed_hassan - Pixabay

Own your originality

Be your original self

Be true to you

    Since my life has so drastically changed over the last few years. I have learned so much about positivity, spirituality and striving to be my best self. I use affirmations. Meditation. Mindfulness. I create and listen to subliminal meditations when my conscious mind is too in charge. I create positive content on Youtube, Instagram, and Tiktok to help share my learnings, to help spread light and love. 

    One thing that hasn't really change all that much is how I revel in my originality. Maybe, when I was really young, just figuring out who I am, I wanted to be like others, because I didn't love and accept myself. But as I got older maybe pre-teen age I stopped fighting how different I seemed and how different I felt from everyone around me. Eventually I grew to cherish being different.

    I encourage all to wrap themselves up in their originality like a nice warm blanket. This is who you are, this is how you're meant to be. Sure, there are things we don't like about ourselves or want to change about ourselves, but originality has nothing to do with that. Being your true authentic self is about embracing your core self. Being original isn't about being extreme in your outer appearance, unless that is truly how you feel you are. Who we are at the center, underneath all of the physical states and fleeting emotions. We shouldn't be trying to be like anyone else or trying to be better than anyone else, because their isn't a ranking system. The Universe doesn't work like that. There is no comparability. We can and should only strive to be better than who we were yesterday. Just be yourself. 

    Only people who love themselves (at least a little), can embrace their true core self. If you hate or dislike anything about yourself, that isn't embracing who you are. My advice if you look in the mirror and see things you hate, or there are things you dislike about yourself, it is because they don't represent the core you. If you act out of character towards someone and it bothers you it's because it isn't true to you. So when you see things you don't like or love about yourself, be kind and loving with yourself and realize those are just notes on what you wish to change.

    You need self love to succeed in this life. You are the most important person in your life. So, take a few moments every morning and right before bed. Catch yourself in the mirror. Look in your eyes. Tell yourself that you love yourself. You might not mean it at first but if you continually do it, one day you'll look in the mirror and realize you do love yourself. When you find that love for yourself, being your original, authentic, true self will be easy and freeing. 

You'll be one step closer to your manifestations and the life of your dreams.

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The storms of life

   

    Bad days happen to all of us. Most days I have the strength and capacity to stay positive, or to turn it positive. I'm a silver-lining kind of person. Unlike when I was younger where my days ran away with me, the external situations dictated my emotions. Where it was either that I was on top of the world or the it was the end of the world. I lived emotionally in extremes.

    I have had quite a life and I am not even old. I have lived through some very difficult things. I have survived  through a challenging childhood, being a single teen mom, faced betrayal from people I love, from friends to family. I have endured the damage of lies and rumors. I have been cheated on, taken for granted, emotionally and mentally abused. I have had to come face to face and conquered some of my deepest fears. I have survived, strived and thrive.

    Yesterday was one of those rarer and rarer days where life throws so much at me I feel the weight of the world and begin to feel myself crack. No matter what I did I couldn't bring myself out of the darkening clouds of the storm. No silver lining to be seen. If I had been younger, without the experience and wisdom I have gained, a day like yesterday would have been detrimental and it would have been heavier to endure. 

    So... even though yesterday felt like a deep, dark storm that I could not escape. My view of days like this have changed with my life. Once a burdening disturbance that controlled my reaction. Rolling black clouds, violent winds and crashes of lightning from the universe are no longer commands controlling my emotions and outer reactions, but more of an indication of either: a test, trying my will and strength to endure, to prove my ability, capability, and or deserving of coming blessings. Or stirring up the stagnant disease in life to clear, cleanse and make way for something new and better. Or simply proof that what I want, what I manifest is on it's way with the force of a fierce gale that it can't help but stir up my life a bit.

 

So although the darkened skies linger into today. I no longer hold the naïve belief that the world is against me. I hold strong to the belief that something amazing is just around the corner. I just have to get a little wet in this cleansing rain.

I hope through my storms that I face in my life I can help people find the silver linings, find the light in life. Help people realize they are strong and to instill courage in anyone I meet to face their own storms with faith, bravery, and positivity.

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