Kind of like what happens to your mind when it's stressed.
Unfortunately, stress seems to be the "norm" these days. Something that most people just put up with and try to get through as best they can.
I have a few questions for you, Friend:
- Ever wish you could quickly zap stress and anxiety on the spot?
- Better yet, do you often wonder if you could not feel so stressed... maybe even prevent it?
I've got good news... you can do both. Through simple yet powerful techniques, you can reduce stress and anxiety quickly and with ease regardless of where you are, who you're with, or what's causing the pressure to build. And you can even prevent it.
The Key to Reducing Stress and Anxiety Quickly
If you want to reduce and better manage your stress levels, then your first line of defense is to become more aware. You must understand when your'e stressed, what tends to stress you out, and how you typically react to stress.
Why Awareness Matters (And You're Not As Aware As You Think)
Most high-achieving professionals and business owners have become numb to stress (and don't realize it). This is you if you:
- Believe that staying in a high-adrenaline mental state helps you to be more alert and focused;
- Accept that stress is necessary to getting ahead in your career (and it's therefore the norm); or
- Often feel mentally drained, cluttered, and chaotic and have forgotten what it feels like to be calm and relaxed (after all, there's no time for that!).
Although some amount of short-term stress can increase your ability to focus and stay attentive, over time stress will clutter your brain and impair your ability to think. And that's not exactly a recipe for being focused or productive.
What you need is to start taking control over your stress so that you can reduce and even prevent it.
What to Pay Attention To if You Want to Reduce + Manage Your Stress
When stress has become the norm, it's difficult to know that you're stressed until it takes over completely. That's why it's important that you learn to become more aware of your stress before you get to a point of overwhelm.
The good news is that your body is giving you clues from the moment it feels stressed. And your emotional responses are clues as well. They're indicators of how you typically react to stress.
I recommend that you start a journal to record your common bodily stress responses, how you typically respond to stress emotionally, and your most common stress triggers. Doing this will help you to more quickly become aware of when you're stressed and will help you to identify the best way to manage and prevent it.
Bodily Clues
Your body automatically responds to stress. It's time that you start paying attention to your typical bodily responses to stress.
Here are some common short-term bodily reactions to be aware of:
- Muscle tension, which eventually can lead to muscle aches and pain.
- Increased heart rate.
- Breathing becomes short and fast, which might lead to feeling faint.Excessive sweating.
- A dry mouth.Indigestion from increased acid production in your stomach.
- A tension headache.
Emotional Responses
Although everyone has similar physical reactions to stress, your emotional response to stress is unique to you. Do you respond to stress by:
- Becoming emotional or overexcited? This can manifest through anger, agitation, crying, or feeling otherwise overly emotional given the situation at hand.
- Withdrawing or becoming depressed? This often shows up by going silent, withdrawing from interactions, and becoming a loner when the pressure builds.
- Freezing up and being unable to take action? This might manifest through feeling stuck and without any choices, making you want to throw your hands into the air and give up.
These responses are yet more clues that will help you identify when you're stressed and anxious. And your typical response to stress will help you with how to best relieve and manage it.
If you typically become overly emotional when stressed, then you'll want to engage in activities that help to quiet your mind and self-soothe.
If you often withdraw or go silent, then you'll want to engage in stress-relieving activities that will energize you.
And if you easily feel paralyzed when stressed, you'll need to find something that stimulates your fight or flight response in a healthy way so that you can get into action.
Identify Common Stress and Anxiety Triggers
The final piece to the awareness puzzle is to identify and understand what triggers your stress and anxiety. You'll never effectively manage your stress or anxiety if you don't understand their source.
When journaling about your stress and anxiety triggers, pay attention to common themes. Note that there are two categories of stress triggers: (1) external circumstances and events, and (2) internal stressors. Be aware of the difference, as the management techniques are different for each.
