We all experience stressors daily. Whether this be stress at work, running late, numerous family activities, or other daily tasks. Anxiety rises amidst all of these stressors which can lead to shifts in cortisol levels, exacerbating these negative feelings. So let’s stop for a moment. Take a 4-5-6 deep breath. Take a moment, close your eyes, and breathe in slowly for a count of 4, hold for count of 5 and breathe out for count of 6. Try this for 3 minutes or do this in a set of 10, with intention and mindful effort. Now slowly open your eyes and look around you. How are you feeling? What do you need in this moment? This is one strategy that can be used to manage stress on a day to day basis. Let’s look into a few more stress management strategies.
Positive Mindset: Mindfulness Techniques for Stress Management
Being mindful is about remaining in the present moment and being aware of your current surroundings, thoughts, emotions and feelings. It is a practice often used in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy but also across different types of therapies. Read on for ways that mindfulness can support your overall wellbeing, particularly when it comes to managing stress.
Managing Stress for Working Mothers
Working mothers juggle many responsibilities and play many roles to maintain the stability and happiness of their families. From the basics such as groceries, paying bills, maintaining a home, to of course dedicating time to raising strong, healthy, children, to having a successful career can be demanding and stressful. Read on for some strategies to manage the stress of balancing work and parenting responsibilities.
Stress Management: Keys To Coping With Stress
One of the best ways to start managing stress is to focus on your daily habits and routines. Do you have the so-called “basics” covered? You have heard and maybe even read about them before: exercising, staying hydrated, getting enough sleep, and so on. But have you evaluated how well you do each of these well-being habits and even if you are doing them consistently? Consistency is the key to building and maintaining healthy habits.
Being Grateful While Experiencing Other Feelings: It's Okay to Feel
Research reports that when you practice gratitude you can in fact reduce depression and anxiety by keeping positive thoughts in mind. We all can remember being told to be grateful from early on in our childhood whether it was for receiving a gift or praise of some kind. Unfortunately, these types of statements, though well-intended, often limit emotional space. We start to believe it is not okay to feel angry, sad, or disappointed when there is so much we should be grateful for. We all have developed internal beliefs, over time, that can become harmful if we do not tackle them. So how do you reframe your thoughts about gratitude, you need to identify how they developed in the first place.
COVID-19 Related Resources for Managing Stress
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created sudden changes and uncertainty for all of us. Our routines have been disrupted in ways that none of us could have imagined even a few short weeks ago. ModernTherapy is committed to supporting your mental health whether that be through our counselors or through various community supports. We’ve compiled a list of resources with various self-care and support topics ranging from anxiety resources to mindfulness techniques.
Quick Tips To Managing Obsessive Thoughts
Ch-Ch-Ch Changes: How Big Life Transitions Impact Your Mental Health
Whether a marriage, new home, baby, first job, or beginning college, transitions are common and can lead to both positive and negative feelings. While transitions can be amazing, they can also cause feelings of uncertainty and instability. However as you focus on the future transitions can be smoother. Taking care of yourself and reaching out to supports can help you find your inner peace when managing any large transition.
Managing Stress (And Not Avoiding It)
In the moment, it can feel much easier to avoid something that makes us stressed or uncomfortable, rather than tackling it head on. However, active coping that aims to address a problem head on, as a way to alleviate stress. Active coping can look like talking through problems to alleviate relationship stress, reframing a situation in order to view the positives of it, or budgeting to reduce financial stress amongst other ways of coping. No matter what active coping approach you take, the ongoing benefits lead to a happier and healthier sense of being.