how to reduce your stress
How many of my high achievers out there are stressed? How many of you have a hard time managing the stress of success?
I’m going to guess a lot of you. Why? Because the stats don’t lie!
According to The American Institute of Stress, 80% of workers feel stressed on the job, nearly half say they need help in learning how to manage their stress, 42% say their coworkers need such help (lol), and 25% of workers have felt like screaming or shouting because of their job.
If ⅓ of our life is spent working, don’t we think we need to figure out how to make that experience more enjoyable?
Yes!! Of course yes! But more than that, what about the affects of stress on our health, on our bodies? If we don’t take care of our bodies, where will we live?
In this blog, we’re going to review the affects of stress on the body, and you’ll gain some tips on how to better manage and reduce your stress. But, before we do, what is stress?
Stress is the feeling of being overwhelmed, or your inability of being able to cope with mental or emotional pressure. Stress is our body’s response to pressure. But what do I mean by that…our “body’s response”? What is happening in our bodies when we’re stressed?
Well, there's what’s called the autonomic nervous system, which includes both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. Both nervous systems can only be activated one at a time.
The parasympathetic nervous system is activated when you are at rest. When your parasympathetic nervous system is activated, some of activities which occur in the body include:
Stimulating your digestion
Activating your metabolism
Maintaining your resting heart rate
And more!
The body heals really well when your parasympathetic nervous system is activated.
Thee sympathetic nervous system is your fight or flight response. When your sympathetic nervous system is activated, there are a lot of changes happening in your body, which include:
You get a more accelerated heart rate
Your blood vessels become constricted
Your blood pressure increases
The blood removes itself from your stomach and into your arms and legs
And so much more!
All of these changes in your body are intended to give you a temporary boost of energy/adrenaline rush so you can support yourself in a very dangerous situation. These changes are a very useful response for our safety and survival.
The issue with the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight response) is the brain doesn’t know the difference between life or death stress like a lion attacking you vs. modern day stress like your fear of creating something which isn’t perfect, your fear of fumbling your words during a presentation, or your overwhelm of managing multiple priorities.
Additionally, the brain doesn’t know the difference between real or imagined stress. For example, the experience of you actually fumbling your words during a presentation (real) vs. your anticipation of fumbling your words (imagined). Your brain processes both real and imagined stress the same.
Winston Churchill said, “When I look back at all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his death bed that he had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which never happened. “ He’s referring to imagined stress.
Think of your work, your life…..do you feel chronically stressed, overwhelmed, on edge?
If you do, it’s time to start getting curious and question how you are currently approaching your work and different areas of your life. Why? Because chronics stress is not a good for you!
When you’re chronically stressed, your sympathetic nervous (fight or flight response) is consistently being activated. And cortisol, which is what activates your sympathetic nervous system, has some pretty damaging long term affects on your body.
Included below are 6 major long term affects of stress on the body:
1) Blood Sugar- Cortisol consistently produces glucose, which leads to increased blood sugar levels, increasing your likelihood of having diabetes.
2) Weight Gain/Obesity - Elevated cortisol levels leads to weight gain. A few different ways you gain weight is through visceral fat storage, blood sugar insulin issues, and craving of high calorie food.
3) Gastrointestinal Problems - When cortisol floods your body, the digestion and absorption of food is compromised, indigestion develops, and the mucosal lining becomes irritated and inflamed.
4) Immune System- High cortisol levels compromise your immune system, increasing your colds, risk for cancer, likelihood for developing food allergies , and more.
5) Fertility Problems - Elevated cortisol leads to the disruption of normal ovulation and menstrual cycles.
6) Cardiovascular Disease - Cortisol constricts blood vessels and increases blood pressure, which leads to vessel damage, plaque build up, and your heart attack.
That said, I know this isn’t new information for you. We all know chronic stress is bad for the body.
If we already know stress is bad for the body, how long will we/will you allow for yourself to live like this? Live in chronic stress?
Laurie Buchanan says, “Whatever you’re re not changing, you are choosing.”
Let’s give you some credit…I’m sure you’re doing something to take care of yourself and support your stress.
Maybe you’re exercising, watching your eating habits, practicing deep breathing exercises, meditating, or even scheduling frequent acupuncture and massage appointments. If you are doing any of this, awesome!
BUT, are you addressing the root cause of your stress? Remember, when we go back to defining what stress is, it’s a feeling of being overwhelmed or your inability to cope with mental or emotional pressure, and your pressure is self imposed.
Self imposed pressure or stress looks like perfectionist habits, type A behavior, emotionally holding onto a mistake, a lack of balance in your life in your life.
That said, if we have the power to create pressure and create stress for ourselves, this is GREAT news because that means we have the power to better manage and reduce our stress! And in this blog, we’re going to provide you with 5 Journaling Exercises that will help you reduce your stress/ better manage the stress of success.
Journaling is important because it provides you with an opportunity to do a thought download, a brain dump, see what’s under the hood of your car, assess your thoughts, and problem solve or exchange and upgrade your thoughts.
That said, let’s get into these journaling exercises:
1— Daily Wins
For a moment, I want you think back and reflect on a time when something went right, you acknowledged or recognized it, and maybe even celebrated it! How did it make you feel to recognize the win? Did you notice your energy go up? Well, it did — energy goes up when we acknowledge our wins. And that surplus of energy is good for us because it contributes to us making better decisions for ourselves.
In this journaling exercise, that’s exactly intent — to give you a surplus of energy.
Think through and write out all the things that went well for you or went as planned. Notice your energy.
2— Daily Gratitude
Eckart Tolle says, “Stress is caused by being here, and wanting to be there.”
In this journaling exercise, we want you to take a moment and recognize where you currently are, what you have, and write out all the things you are grateful.
Positive psychology research shows that gratitude is strongly associated to greater happiness, it helps you feel more positive emotions, and improves your health (it activates the parasympathetic, or calming part, of the nervous system).
3— Work Through Your Obstacles
For this journaling exercise, ask yourself, “What were my obstacles for the day? What didn’t go right or what went wrong?”
When you get clear on what isn’t working, you have the ability to take a step back, assess, and problem solve. When you problem solve, you get unstuck. You’re no longer stuck in a funk, stuck in emotions like disappointment, or stuck in blame of yourself or others.
Rather, asses what didn’t go right and come up with a plan to repair or prevent it from happening again next time.
4— Rumble your narrative
William James says, “The greatest weapon of stress is being able to choose one thought over another.”
In this journaling exercise, rumbling your narrative will help you do just that.
If you feel stressed about something in particular, like a big presentation, ask yourself, “What I am trying to make this presentation mean?”
Maybe you’ve made this presentation a big deal in your mind because it’s visible to highly influential people like other executives, the board, or investors. And, if you don’t kill it, then your reputation, your promotion, or your job is on the line.
But ask yourself, “Is that really true? Am I certain it’s true? When I believe this narrative, how do I want to respond?”
When you believe your narrative, maybe your response is to work longer hours. And now that you’re playing the game I don’t have time, you’re skipping your lunch, and you haven’t stepped away from your computer to grab fresh air or water.
After you’ve answer these questions, ask yourself, “Who would I be without these thoughts?”
Work through these question and see what insights you gain. The intent of rumbling your narrative is to remind you that your thoughts are not facts. This exercise will help you exchange or upgrade your thoughts in a way that serves your goals and your calm and relaxation response.
5— Create Balance
As people, we are not one dimensional — there are many different ways we feed and nourish ourselves.
A lot of us work work work work because society or our parents might have told us that our work is the most important thing in our life. Some comments you might have heard in your upbringing might include:
“Your status matters.”
“Your job title matters.”
“The amount of money you make matters.”
Sound familiar?
If these narratives are true, then how is it that there are unhappy wealthy individuals?
The reality is, when we feed the other areas of our life, our stress goes down, our energy and our motivation up, and we have a sense of hope and peace.
To help create balance in your life, this journaling exercise will have you assess the different areas of your life, like spirituality, social life, family relationships, romantic relationships, health, creativity, sense of purpose, etc. Do an assessment and rate each area on a scale of 1-5, 5 being most satisfied, and 1 being very dissatisfied. Assess the numbers and identify which area you want to see the most positive shift first, and create a plan to increase your rating.
To recap, the 5 journaling exercises which will help you reduce your stress are:
1) Daily Wins
2) Daily Gratitude
3) Working Through Your Obstacles
4) Rumbling Your Narrative
5) Creating Balance
Now you that you have these journaling exercises, will you take action to implement them in your life?
Maybe? But maybe not.
And if not, that’s because information is not what drives us to action. Think about…over the past years, how much money and energy have you spent on books and seminars in your attempt to overcome or minimize your stress?
If nothing changes, what new problems might arise and cost you in the future? How much would you spend in the coming years searching for a solution? For most of my clients, the answer is mucho (a lot).
Tackling all of this on our own is a lot and can often be overwhelming to the point where it’s just easier to stay where we are. But coaching is a process which is facilitated in a specific way that empowers you to be different, without having to think about being different. And the first step in the process of change is raising you awareness about what you really desire for yourself, and your life.
If you truly have the desire to better manage the stress of success, and create a more balanced life for yourself, then I would love to gift you with a FREE coaching session.
Your FREE coaching session is a great opportunity to discover:
A powerful vision for yourself and what it will mean for you
Lifestyle habits or thought patterns which may be stopping or slowing you down from elevating to new heights
A step by step plan of action that has you steering your ship with confidence and control
By the end of our conversation, you will have gained clarity about what you want, the best path forward to achieve it, and you will walk away with at least one major aha about how to break out of your stress and take action from a place of passion, momentum, and truth.
Check our Services to learn more about our coaching offerings!
If you love podcasts, catch Episode #2, How to Reduce Your Stress, on Empowerhouse Life Coaching, the Podcast!