10 Stress Management Techniques

The main key to stress management is to reprogram your mind to choose the proper response when your body is feeling anxious.  When you are able to do this successfully, you will begin to be able to fight off the stress response before it ever begins, thus reducing the negative effects of stress on your body.  Here are ten tips to help you deal with everyday stressors.

• Set Stress Boundaries:  A small amount of stress is not harmful, and may even be somewhat beneficial.  The nervous energy you get before you have to give a presentation, or before you head out for a first date can be a good thing.  This shows that you are aware, excited, and have a good deal of energy.  That being said, you need to make sure you do not hold on to stress for too long or allow it to grow too large.  Set boundaries that allow you to move on.  If you are feeling a bit of stress about a situation that is currently occurring that is fine.  However, you cannot allow yourself to dwell on events that have happened in the past and are done with, nor can you worry excessively about events that may or may not occur in the future.  If you find yourself doing this, refocus your attention to something positive and remind yourself to let the stress go.

 

• Avoid Stress Triggers:  Stress does not occur out of nowhere.  There is always some sort of trigger that causes you to react.  One of the best stress management techniques is to identify stress triggers so that you can better avoid them in the future.  When you notice you are feeling stressed, think back; what happened when you first noticed these feelings?  Review the course of events that took place right before the stress set in.  When you have narrowed down the source, you can deactivate it and get it under control.

 

• Get Some Exercise:  If you find that you are feeling stressed, get up and get moving.  Take a short walk, go for a jog, or even get up and stretch.  This can help to re-energize you, as it promotes endorphin release.  These endorphins cause feelings of happiness and induce a calming effect.

 

• Eat A Healthy Diet:  Many people turn to junk food to comfort themselves when they are feeling stressed.  Foods that are high in sugar, salt, caffeine, and even nicotine are often consumed in an attempt to calm the body.  These foods actually cause the opposite to happen.  For example, cookies, cakes, and soft drinks tend to sap B-complex vitamins from the body, which are essential for stress management.  Rather than reaching for these treats, try to only eat healthy options.  Fresh vegetables, low fat yogurt, whole grain breads and crackers, and fresh fruits are great options.

 

• Practice Breathing:  When the body becomes stressed, breathing becomes rapid, shallow, and irregular.  You may feel as though you cannot catch your breath, or that your heart is pounding.  Practice warding off stress by breathing calmly; take deep breaths that completely fill your lungs, and slowly exhale.  You will increase your total oxygen intake, which will allow your body to relax.

 

• Remove Negative Influences:  Stress is actually contagious, and stress management cannot be done successfully if you are surrounded with negative influences.  If you are around people that worry excessively, have nothing nice to say, and are very highly-strung you will find yourself feeling the exact same way.  If you are able to surround yourself with positive people who are calm and pleasant, you will find that you too feel more peaceful. 

 

• Use Low-Stress Language:  The words you use greatly affect your stress level.  If you always have something negative to say, you will feel negative.  However, if you can find the good in any situation, or take a minute to center yourself and even laugh a little you will feel better.  Always think before you speak, especially when you feel pressured, unhappy, or uneasy.  Before reacting to a stressful situation, take a deep breath, and choose your words wisely. 

 

• Laugh More:  When you are faced with a stressful situation, the most common response is to worry and focus on the issue that is causing the stress.  This only causes more problems.  Instead, try smiling when you start to feel anxious.  If you can work up a good chuckle, or a full laugh, even better!  These simple techniques can truly alleviate stress all together, and laughter is contagious.  Before you know it, you and everyone around you will be laughing, making jokes, and feeling better.

 

• Break Up Large Tasks:  Having a large task to do can really pile on the stress.  Rather than focusing on the huge amount of work ahead of you, break it up into manageable pieces, and set goals.  For example, if you have to complete a twenty page report for your boss, and it is due in a week, break it up into sections and set a goal of completing three or four sections per day.  You will feel a great sense of accomplishment when you meet your daily goal, and you will feel more content knowing you can easily meet these smaller milestones, rather than focusing entirely on the larger picture.

 

• Control Your Emotions:  People who tend to be highly emotional are more prone to feeling stressed out.  Try to react as neutrally as possible to different situations.  Do not react quickly and allow yourself to get overly worked up, angry, fearful, or feel hopeless.  You can handle these situations, and keeping your emotions in check will allow you to deal with everyday occurrences much more efficiently. 

 

Practice these tips for stress management each day, and in time you will find that the things that once easily bothered you are no longer a big deal.  You will feel better about yourself, you will feel healthier, and you will have more energy to take on the world.

10 Positive Affirmations To Boost Confidence

 Positive affirmations can be a very powerful tool in the process of boosting confidence levels.  These statements can do wonders to transform negative thoughts and feelings into supportive and motivational encouragement.  Positive affirmations can increase your feelings of personal worth, empower you to take on difficult tasks, help you cope with change, and allow you to deal with stress. Here are ten positive affirmations to help get you on your way to becoming a stronger person.

• “Stressful Situations Are Just Challenges”:  Learn to handle stress in a constructive way that you can grow from.  Stress can be quite debilitating, but it does not have to be.  You can work at teaching yourself to take stressful situations as a challenge.  Challenges bring many opportunities that can easily be missed if you are not careful.

 

• “I Can Handle Whatever Comes My Way”:  Rather than automatically thinking that you cannot handle stressful situations, take them as they come and work with them.  Instead of trying to fight off something that does not immediately make you happy, meet it head on, and work with what you have.  If you spend your time and energy working with, rather than against, a situation you will have much less conflict in your life.

 

• “I Can Accomplish Anything I Set My Mind To”:  Instead of automatically assuming you cannot do something, convince yourself that you absolutely can!  This may be one of the most beneficial positive affirmations that you can give yourself.  By repeating this statement anytime you feel overwhelmed you will give yourself the courage needed to step up and take on any challenge.  If you truly believe you can do anything, you can.

 

• “I Am A Strong Person”:  Lack of self-esteem can often make a person feel very beaten down.  Reminding yourself that you are a strong person on a regular basis is one of the best positive affirmations that can help boost your confidence level and keep you from feeling taken advantage of.

 

• “I Am Doing My Very Best”:  It is not uncommon to start to believe that you are worthless or that you have nothing to offer when you lack self-confidence.  Remembering to believe in yourself, and that you are doing the very best you can will help you to feel a sensation of inner peace.  The best you can do is the best you can do, and you have to learn to be happy with that.

 

• “I Am In Charge Of My Life”:  The next of the positive affirmations reminds you that you, and only you, are in charge of your life.  Only you can change the way you think and act.  If you truly want to be happier and boost your confidence level, it must come from within.

 

• “Happiness Begins With Me”:  Happiness comes from within, and you must choose to be happy.  Positive affirmations such as this remind you that you need to make a conscious choice to be positive, and look to find the good in every situation.  Once you begin to find your own personal happiness, others will gravitate toward you.

 

• “I Can Remain Calm Under Pressure”:  Learning how to remain calm in the face of pressure is key to boosting your personal confidence.  If you react too quickly to a particular situation and lash out, others will not feel comfortable around you.  If you can remain calm in a stressful situation, deal with the issue, and work to resolve it in a positive manner you will feel much better about yourself and others will be more apt to work with you.

 

• “I Will Find The Good”:  Teaching yourself to find the good in any situation is one of the positive affirmations that just about every person can benefit from.  It is extremely easy to revert to negative feelings, and have a very depressed general attitude.  It takes work to be positive, and finding the good in any circumstance will help you to have a more positive outlook on life.

 

• “This Too Shall Pass”:  The last of the positive affirmations reminds you that no matter how dire the situation seems, it will pass with time.  In many cases, the problem that is causing you unhappiness is very short lived and really has no lasting impact on your life.  Reminding yourself of this will help you to get through the issue faster while increasing your self-confidence.

 

Positive affirmations should be practiced everyday.  The more you repeat these statements to yourself, the better you will feel.  In time this will lead you to have more self-esteem and take on more challenges you would have once hesitated to even consider.