10 Ways to Help Calm Yourself

We all experience stress in life, one way or the other. It could be relationship stress, financial stress, anxiety stress that is more internally driven, it could be work stress. When you are stressed, many times it's very difficult to relax or find any true calm or significant time in a calmed state. Maybe one or some of these suggestions can help

1. Walk...for a while

I am not telling you to walk away from all your problems or responsibilities, but just take a nice, short, medium or long walk. Walking has helped me think, put things in perspective and have a long conversation with my inner voice and put my mind in a better place afterwards.

2. Indulge in something you love

Spend half a day or a significant amount of time doing something you love to do, something that puts you in that tranced state where you don't feel like you exerted any energy doing it at all because it makes you feel almost euphoric.

3. Do Something Charitable

Donate old stuff, clothing, items to a shelter or pay it forward for someone at a fast food place or coffee shop. Give money to a homeless person, donate your time as a volunteer somewhere in your city. Sometimes this helps you feel better by giving and you see how others are struggling and wish they had the same problems that you do.

4. Sit somewhere in public and just take it all in

A mall, coffee shop, retail store with a lounge, a bistro with an outside seating area on a nice day..just sit there. Don't work, don't talk to anyone, just observe and soak up the surroundings.

5. Write it all down

Sit down alone in a quiet area and write down everything that is causing the stress, everything that led to it, and why you feel stressed. Then look it over, and start writing solutions on how to address it. Maybe writing down your strengths will make you feel more confident when you tackle the stress head on.

6. Go back to an old hobby you abandoned

7. Make sleep a priority

Schedule it if you must. Take an inventory of how much average sleep you have had over the past week or so and if it's 6 or less, get to 7 or 8 each night. Stress can fatigue you mentally and physically and it effects not only your mood, but it effects your immune system and it's harder for your brain to think and operate to it's full capacity. Sleep increases all of those things.

8. Do something out of the ordinary

Go to a playground and slide on a slide. Go to a carnival and ride some rides, go play videogames at a retro arcade or Dave and Busters or something. Ride a bumper car and crash into a bunch of kids and teens. It's fun!

9. Let the emotions out

Not to be a sexist or anything, but society has planted seeds throughout history that men shouldn't cry, it's a sign of weakness. I have heard women say the same thing, that they don't want to cry because it's not good and it's a negative thing. Forget all that, it's not true. Releasing that raw emotion takes a huge burden off of you, we are all human and bottling it all up does so much more harm then good. You don't have to cry or release your emotions in a public display but wherever you feel is an appropriate place or with someone you trust or a therapist.

10. It's Temporary, it will Pass

Check your goals, check on your self talk. Get re-motivated as to why you work so hard or why you get up each morning. Fight for what you want, fight to provide for yourself and your family (if you have a partner, kids etc)

Jnagy13