What is it? Stress is tension. When you are stressed, your body tenses up, you are less relaxed, you are more irritable, more critical, less creative, less productive, more overwhelmed, and your over-all lowered state of health. Mental, emotional and physical health.
It is the single thing that is extraordinarily simple to change, but plays all the difference in your life. Most people have a unique set of causes for stress, but from my experience living in a high-stress environment, there are certain things that I've found to be most helpful.
In no particular order, here are some of the best ways to get rid of stress:
1. Physical Activity (No less than 30 minutes moderate or 15 minutes intense)
- The more stressed you are, the more active you should be every day
2. Listen to some high-energy music (for me, party music and metal work the best)
3. Listen to some relaxing sounds (slow music or natural sounds like wind or waves)
4. Take up a hobby (anything you enjoy doing, hopefully constructive)
5. Have a goal to work toward
- Direction in your life helps you clear up most turmoil and handle anything that comes your way with greater ease
- Anything you encounter is either for or against your efforts toward that goal
6. Spend time with like-minded people
- When you are with people who you trust, who understand you and are willing to listen, you are more likely to talk to them and open up. Talking is a natural mechanism that relieves stress. For some reason, talking about your problems makes it easier to deal with them.
- Being in the company of friends will make you more likely to be in a good vibe with them. Social vibing is another human mechanism that causes people to feel good. Having fun and laughing always make you feel better. When you feel good, all your stresses go away.
7. Express creativity as much as possible
- Some examples: painting, writing, designing, sculpting, problem solving, building, models
8. Self-Improvement
- Develop a new skill. Learn to do something new. Find out how to do something better. Your improved value and ability, and most importantly your sense of accomplishment will make you feel good. When you feel good, your stresses seem to go away.
9. Help Others
- Giving is actually a selfish thing. When you donate to someone else, you are doing it because you feel good when you do. Therefore, you give so that you would feel good. This is the only time when you will hear me say that you should be as selfish as you like.
- Some of the ways you can help others: solving problems, fixing stuff, teaching, public service, become a firefighter, start a charity, organize a service group to address your community's issues and needs, cheer up lonely people, put something interesting into someone else's life, tutor or mentor someone for free, and the very best way to help others is by supporting my website! For ideas of how you can help, check out the contributions page of RarelyPublished.com
10. Get Laid
(this one should be self-explanatory, but since they don't teach you this in school, do some research online and buy a dating ebook. For guys, make sure you check out David Deangelo's "Double Your Dating". For ladies, if you need help here, then you're probably a b*tch or out of shape. Exercise and friendlier behavior may help and if you need style tips, find the prettiest dressed woman you know, and invite her to go clothes-shopping with you.)
11. Do some cleaning
- When you're cleaning, first of all, you're improving your life quality. Next, and actually, more importantly, it is symbolic of getting your life straightened out. Why exactly it works, I don't know. It just does.
12. Start something
- Not only will the result of your labors give you pride, but it will be adding value to the earth as a whole, even if a small bit, its still more value than there was before you started. Just think, you are the one adding value to the world. You did it. It's your accomplishment. You did it!
13. Change of Attitude
- Everyone could use a positive outlook on life, one where you recognize the opportunities and make the best out of anything that doesn't go as planned. It's not living in a fantasy world. It's just making the best of what you've got. Always. It's not an activity you do for once or twice a day. It's all in how you look at life. If this is something you're interested in and want more details on, send me an email (contact info on website).
- Don't whine or complain at all. Ever. COMPLAINING IS A GIANT CRAP MAGNET, AND CRAP DOESN'T TRAVEL AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT. CRAP TRAVELS AT THE SPEED OF CRAP, AND THAT'S REALLY REALLY SLOW!! This is just a simple change you can do to make your frame of mind work for the better. That means doing something about your problems rather than whining about them.
- Remember the old saying "Coulda, shoulda, woulda..."? Well, if that's what you say, that's what you'll keep saying about yourself. Change you're frame of mind by not using those words in your vocabulary. Never regret the past. Learn from it and move forward. Replace the words "could", "would", and "should" (life happened to me attitude) with "can" and "will" (I control my life attitude). So next time you catch yourself using any of the three regret words, stop, and rephrase yourself with a can-do frame of mind.
14. Relax
- Un-tense your muscles (imagine all of them loosening from head to toe, one area at a time)
- Let go. There will always be more where that came from. Clinging on to something always makes you tense. Unless your life is directly at stake, attachment will probably increase your stress. This is fixed by letting go.
- Don't try to control anything but yourself
- Treat your "Chicken-Little-OMFG-The-Sky-Is-Falling Syndrome" (aka an exaggerated sense of danger/importance in areas outside of true life-or-death situations)
- Clear your mind
- Feel good (smile!)
About the Author:
Author of Explode Your Memory - A Total Manual to Memory Mastery, Duke Xenner runs a website devoted to personal development & life improvement. Be sure to check out his website for more cool resources:
www.RarelyPublished.com - Personal Development & Life Improvement Portal
