How to Manage Stress & Relax _ 6 Practical Self Care Tips

It's been a challenging time for all of us. We've been collectively undergoing a huge change, and none of us were truly prepared for it. Like with any sudden life changes, felt like navigating in deep waters, directionless and full of uncertainty. Amidst the change, time didn't stop, and our lives still had to continue. Somehow, we were supposed to carry on with our work, school, relationships, and meet all the demands of our daily lives as normal. But honestly, just trying to maintain the basic rhythm of life felt like a strenuous task. If you have been feeling stressed and anxious more than usual lately, you're definitely not alone. Stress is nothing new for most of us, but the current situations added a layer of complexity and disturbance, and this is why more than ever before, I think it's crucial for us to prioritize our mental health. Our psychological, emotional, and social well-being has a huge impact in our decision making, how we interact with others, and how we ultimately shape our own worlds. Life will always throw out random variables, so the best that we can do is have the right tools to be able to tune into our inner thoughts and try our best to handle whatever comes our way. In return, this can give us immense control over our lives. I recognize that stress is an inevitable part of our lives, and sometimes it can even be beneficial. But when it becomes overwhelming or chronic, then it can have serious consequences to our overall well-being. So today, I wanted to share with you guys some of the ways that I manage my stress to keep my stress levels down and to limit the negative effects that it can have on me. But before we get started into today's video, I wanted to thank today's sponsor, BetterHelp. And I was really excited when they reached out to me because I personally think that anyone and everyone can benefit from therapy, regardless of their mental health state. BetterHelp assesses your needs and they will match you with a professional counselor who is a perfect fit for you, and you can start communicating within 48 hours. They have over 15,000 counselors with a wide range of expertise, and if you decide that you want to change your counselor for whatever reason, they make it really easy and it's also free of charge. They offer financial aid and the service is available for clients worldwide. If you guys are interested, they're offering 10% off your first month using my link, betterhelp.com slash malamalife. That's better h-e-l-p. Join over 1 million people taking charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. First, I try to identify where the stress is coming from. Am I overwhelmed with work? Am I going through a big change in my life? And sometimes it's really obvious, and other times I have to dig deep beneath the surface to find the root of the cause. I noticed in the past year, I really started to worry about things that were out of my control, and this stress trickled down to all different aspects of my life. I noticed that my sleeping patterns were off. I was more irritable towards people. I guess my biggest homework was just trying to detach myself from the outcome and to let go of any expectations that I had of myself. I think this is why it's so important to continuously work on our self-awareness. This could mean studying our personality types, learning a new skill, taking mental note of our boundaries, keeping a self-reflection journal. When we have a better understanding of ourselves, we can better control our own mindsets, and we can start to see patterns of what situations, people, and thoughts stresses us out, which I think is the first step in managing our stress. My house, especially my bedroom, is my sanctuary. And creating a very relaxing and calming space is very important to me because I'm like a sponge, and I absorb all the energy that's in my surroundings. So we purposely chose very neutral colors, warm and cozy textures. We make the bed the center of the room. After a long day at work or just being out and about, we can come home to our stress-free zone. It's great to have a calm environment to relax in, but even if we don't, we can try to create a relaxing atmosphere within whatever space that we have. I like to light my favorite candles, turn on the diffuser, listen to some of my favorite music, and just clean my space. I'll purposely set aside time to enjoy my space, and this really helps to lift my mood when I'm stressed. I don't know about you guys, but I always have a million thoughts fighting for my attention, and it can be very overwhelming sometimes. This is why letting our thoughts out and talking about our feelings can be a really great coping mechanism. You could be talking to a friend, talking to a therapist, or writing in your journal. Whatever it is, it's so important to find an outlet to make sure that our stress doesn't compound. It's truly a blessing if you have people in your life that you trust enough to have these conversations with. Sometimes it doesn't even matter who it is, but just being listened to can make me feel loved and supported. But what has always worked for me is writing in my journal. This is a way to brain dump any lingering thoughts, worries, and causes of my stress. The writing process itself, it can be a huge stress relief. This is a great chance to connect the dots, self-reflect, and work through any inner conflicts that we might have. Prioritizing our health and taking care of our bodies is a long-term stress relief that can really improve our mental health as well as our physical well-being. When I'm feeling stressed, I don't put the pressure on myself to do vigorous exercises. I really just try to take care of the basic needs like sleeping regularly, eating a balanced meal, drinking enough water, and trying to do some gentle exercise like yoga or going for a walk. Going for a walk in nature is one of my favorite ways to relieve stress because it works almost instantly. The change of scenery, the fresh air, it can have a huge impact on how I feel and it always gets me into a different frame of mind. Nature always reminds me how small and insignificant my problems are and it encourages me to see the bigger picture in life. When was the last time you allowed yourself to do nothing? Taking a nap under a tree, laying in bed without a phone, getting lost in a good book? Finding ways to truly relax our minds is a skill in our modern world. Allowing ourselves to do nothing for the moment being is a great reminder that we can't rush through life and it encourages us to come back to the present moment. Everything that needs to be done will be done but it's not worth it to risk our health and our mental health by the pressure that we put on ourselves. When I first started teaching I would get really anxious about public speaking and in a way I still kind of do. I'm better at it now but that was when I first started to look into deep breathing exercises and I have to admit it was really weird at first. It took some time to get used to but right away I did notice that it would calm my nerves, it would relax my mind and also just put me in a better headspace. I noticed that I procrastinate doing the hardest things on my to-do list like writing an email to my boss, just doing my taxes and scheduling my dental work which kind of seems silly because it's not a big deal after I have done it but I don't know why I do this to myself. By prolonging it I'm just stressing myself out even more. I really have been trying to prioritize the hardest things on my to-do list and kind of forget about the rest for that day. Doing this really helps me to focus on the things that I need to get done. It just makes me feel so much better and it's a huge stress relief. I hope that you found some of these tips helpful and no matter what you're going through right now I hope that you take care of yourself first. Thank you again so much for watching my video and until next time, take care, talk to you soon, bye!