Our daily lives have always been stressful. It all starts when the typical work week begins on Monday morning. Instead of being able to get the sleep we need and wake up peacefully, our alarm blares and we are off to the races. We rush through our shower and barely get a moment to eat breakfast. Then it’s out the door, into the car and onto the school bus. Looking through the mountain of tasks and emails at work is intimidating, and the drone of work meetings doesn’t bring any relief. It’s no wonder that Mondays can bring the highest incident of cardiac arrests. To be healthy and to thrive, instead of just barely surviving, we need to make time to nurture ourselves and create a more stress-free life. Here are some tips to help get you started.
Lower Your Financial Stress
Even with all the hours we put in at the workplace, most individuals and families find themselves short of money at month end. With the high cost of childcare and housing, it’s easy to run low on funds. Things are even more challenging now that inflation is at a 40-year high, and food and fuel costs are skyrocketing. In order to avoid the cycle of endless stress, it’s important to have a financial cushion so you are not so overwhelmed each month. By applying for and taking out a personal loan, you can consolidate some of your highest interest debts and put extra cash in the bank too. With this cash reserve you will have peace of mind, knowing you’ll be able to handle unexpected expenses that might arise.
Calm Your Mind with Meditation
When you are under constant stress, your mind starts racing and you never reach a state of stillness. It’s critical to introduce new habits that help you take a break and let you detach from everything that is going on around you. With meditation, you can still your mind and reach a level where theta waves that are associated with a relaxed mind dominate. If you want to learn to meditate, you can sign up for a class that will teach you the basics and introduce you to the practice. It’s also helpful to go online and sample meditation videos so you can see which method works best for you. Some people find that silent meditation isn’t quite for them. In this case, guided journeys and visualizations might be a better choice.
Immerse Yourself in Nature
One of the best ways to reduce work related stress and the other pressures and craziness of our hectic world is to spend time immersed in nature. Spend some quiet moments sitting on a bench by a body of water or hike along a forest trail and you’ll introduce some calmness into your body, mind, and soul. When we spend time in peaceful places outdoors, we become entangled with the greater rhythms of the natural world. Our internal ecosystem comes into tune with the more powerful, expansive realm of nature and we feel our bodies relax and our spirit’s soar.
