Can’t Stop Stress, Try Managing It.

The situations and pressures we are under affect our stress levels in different ways and each of us handles stress the best way we can but have you ever thought about managing your stress differently, so that it does not cause health and wellness issues?

Managing Your Stress Triggers

Seek help if you feel your stress levels are too high and affecting your health and wellbeing. Help is available in many forms and while it is ultimately ourselves who have to change our mindset towards stress, there are techniques you can learn to help you reframe your stressed mind and help you learn to manage stress by being objective as to what causes your stress.

Your body feels what your mind thinks. While there are some forms of stress beyond your control, known as external stress, there’s also internal stress, which is within your control. Learning to manage how you think about a stressful situation, react to it and manage it can help balance the effect stress has on your health, wellness and happiness.

What triggers your stress? Before you can manage your stress, you have to recognise what causes your stress and how you react to that stressful situation. Have you ever thought about how you could flick that stress switch in a different direction to create a positive change from a negative stressful experience or reaction, in the way you respond to stress?

We all have the ability to control our thoughts but it is our expectations, fears, opinions, attitudes and reactions that are harder to change, but not impossible and small mindset changes can make a big difference to your wellbeing.

Write down some of the things that make you feel stressed. Think about how you could react differently, turning it into a positive thought for you or deciding if you can avoid the stressful situation in the first place. Try re-naming the stress by how it makes you feel. Is it a feeling of frustration, sadness or being overwhelmed that triggers particular types of stress? Naming the stress can sometimes help you control or manage the problem in your mind or you might decide to remove some of the simple things that cause the stress before they happen.

Stress is very personal, only you know what triggers your stress and how it affects you. Some of the best ways to balance stress are easy to access but it’s your choice as to what works for you. Here are my top tips for de-stressing.

Be your own best friend by treating your stress as if it were your best friend’s problem. If your best friend said they were stressed with the same issue, what would you advise your best friend to do to manage the stressful situation? Try applying your own advice to your stressors to manage your feelings objectively.

Press delete, switch it off, unsubscribe and mark as junk anything and everything you can that is not worth your time that can be spent on the things that matter. It’s an empowering feeling. I find emails, social media and all forms of electronic communication quite overwhelming pressure at times because everyone expects your instant attention. I had to decide how to manage this constant in my face communication and decided, If something does not add value to my life, work or is not worth my time, get it out of my life.

Do you think they really care about you or your time, probably not, then maybe it’s easier to move on without them in your sphere? Silence is golden and I am finding the more I can delete non-valuable communication, the better I feel. An out of office notification works too, it makes people realise you have a life and you are enjoying it without needing to answer them immediately. The realisation of ‘what if I was no longer here’ life would go on without me, is scary but true and it helps me manage the stress of so many things that used to impact on my wellbeing.

Balancing your stress with de-stressing activities.

Meditation comes in many forms and is effective in calming the mind and reducing stress levels but finding the right type of meditation for you is often the hardest thing to do. There are many meditation apps to choose from and meditation courses or classes are usually offered at most yoga centres and without a doubt, meditation helps you manage stress by clearing or resting the mind.

Movement in the form of exercise or activities you enjoy are great for calming the mind and maintaining the body. However, keep in mind that strenuous exercise can be read by your body as another form of stress when you are feeling mentally under pressure. When you feel mentally stressed it is kinder on your wellbeing to opt for a more passive form of exercise like walking, restorative yoga or swimming to name a few.

Massage or Spa treatments come in many styles and for those suffering from stress, anxiety or feeling overwhelmed, a nurturing, slow and gentle aromatherapy type of massage or treatment is the most effective to calm the body and mind. If you find it hard to switch off your mind, give yourself more time by having a therapeutic body treatment before your massage. Most ancient cultures treat the body through the skin, as it is the largest organ of our body and can be effective in de-stressing the mind with the sensations of touch and smell helping to distract the mind. Facials are ideal for de-stressing the mind with the constant touch to the head, neck, shoulders and face calming the peripheral nerves that help switch off the mind.

Aromatherapy in your space at home or work is a popular and very nice way to treat your mood with specific essential oils used to balance your mind by adding a few drops of pure essential oil in a diffuser. At ikatan Spa we sell and use aromatherapy in treatments and also diffusers through our guest reception and lounge as a way of calming guest before their Spa treatments. You can combine essential oils to calm the mind while uplifting your emotions and at the same time add a beautiful aroma throughout your space.

Time with your chosen ones is some of the best time out you can have. Making time to catch up with the friends and family who love you and value your time, feels mindlessly restful in an active way. It’s one way you can share a problem or forget about the stressful things in your life because you are happiest in the company of those you care about and grateful for their love.

Nature is a wonder for your wellness and one thing we know for sure is that nature is nurturing when it comes to de-stressing. Your environment greatly impacts on your wellbeing and surrounding yourself with nature or looking at nature reduces stressful emotions without you consciously thinking about it. I call it ‘Green Therapy’ and it’s back on trend to have pot plants in your home or workplace to create a calming effect on the mind. Research shows that nature has a profound impact when it comes to reducing stress and one of the reasons we provide a relaxation garden at ikatan Spa for our guests to enjoy some ‘green therapy’ before and after treatments.

Stress is part of life, it’s not always about resolving it but managing it and the impact it has on your wellbeing. Once you take the first step in learning to recognise and understand what triggers your stress you can then learn how to deflect it, counteract it and manage it.

Make a start with one stress trigger at a time to de-stressing your mind and feel empowered about the control you will have in a new approach to managing the stress that can’t be avoided.

Katrina Thorpe