In life, it is inevitable for us not to have “one of those days“. It’s just something we accept as part of being a human!

But, sometimes, we don’t feel like we’re just having “one of those days”, but more like one of those weeks, or months, or YEARS, etc. Be it because of a new position at a current job (or a new career all together), juggling different roles in your life, taking on a new activity/responsibility, or really anything else that just makes us feel crunched for time. Sometimes the pressure can feel like more than we can bare, causing us feelings of stress and/or anxiety; but, more times than not, a lot of that stress that we are feeling is something that we ourselves can help alleviate.

I found an awesome article blogged by Craig Boneau on Tiny Buddha with five simple ways to cope with overwhelming feelings of stress:

An excerpt from How to Deal When You’re Overwhelmed: 5 Ways to Turn Stress into Joy

 

1. Take mental breaks.

If you are in the middle of a stressful situation, it can be very difficult to see the big picture of what you want for your life and act in accordance with it. You are just trying to triage your way out of the moment because it seems like survival is the best you can hope for.

But despite what it feels like at the time, you can do much better with the situation than just surviving it. You can turn it to your advantage.

To do that, when you feel blinded to your big picture by a desperate need to just survive the moment you are in, take a beat. Literally, take fifteen seconds, two deep breathes, then ask yourself what your next action would be if you were going to act in line with the vision you have for yourself in the future. Then do that.

 

2. Smile.

Just smile.

Know that time will pass, you will do as much as you can with it, and you can either have a furrowed brow and be short with everyone around you as you go, or you can smile and pleasantly do as much as you can.

You will get whatever you can get done either way. But the chances that you do whatever you do in a way that aligns with who you want to be go way up if you are smiling while you are doing it.

3. Remember this will pass.

Life is going to continue. Things will change. Things always change. You are overwhelmed now. You won’t be at some point. Then you will be again. That’s just how it works.

View the time you feel overwhelmed as just a season of life. Not something you’ve been cursed to experience in perpetuity.

Whatever is causing it will pass.

It may sound trite. But try it. It is amazing how much easier it is to deal with stressful situations while sticking to your habits and your values when you don’t view it as something that you will always have to deal with, but instead as just a period you have to get through.

4. When In doubt, don’t.

When you are overwhelmed, you are very likely to make a bad decision, to act in a way you regret, and generally derail a lot of the good stuff you have going.

So, when you are really stressed, don’t follow your gut. That’s right, your gut is probably leading you astray.

When you know you are overwhelmed, be on the lookout for those quick, off-the-cuff reactions. If it makes sense in the moment to eat the whole bag of potato chips (your gut literally leading you astray) or fire off a heated rebuke in an email, you probably need to tell your gut to take a break. So when you feel yourself wanting to react like that, stop.

So when you are in a place that you know makes your gut more likely to lead you astray, be very intentional about whether you listen to it. Take a second to consider if what it is telling you aligns with how you want to behave and portray yourself. If it does, great, but if not, ignore it and do nothing.

5. Practice, practice, practice.

If you believe in the habits you are trying to create or the values you are trying to exhibit with your life, then you can override the reflex to let stress derail you by reminding yourself that now is the time to practice being the version of yourself you want to become.

While it will never be something you seek out, when you view stress and overwhelm this way, they become the vehicle to ensure your long-term success.

You will turn negative situations into positive ones and, as a result, you will be far more likely to come out the other end stronger and better for it.

To read the full article, click this link, and it will redirect you right to the page (:

 

I think that Craig Boneau did a great job at breaking down some simple steps to handling stress that you can use in any given situation.

Like I said earlier, it is absolutely inevitable to just never feel stress, (this is true for some of us more so than others). But, no matter to what degree we are feeling that emotion, we can all take the same steps to handling it. We can alleviate our stress levels by taking mental breaks, remembering to just smile, reminding yourself that this will pass & to not just jump on board with your gut in the heat of the moment. Then, bring all of these steps together with practice. You’re probably not going to instinctively opt. to do any of these stress alleviating tips, so consciously implementing them into a stressful situation is the best thing you can do for your present and future self!

 

– Virginia Johnson

 

 

Are you struggling with practicing mindfulness, or does it feel like stress and anxiety are overpowering your life, or are you just interested in talking to someone about things going on in your life because you simply feel that you do not  as you should? Sometimes having a partner in your journey can help. Give us a call  to set up a free phone consultation at Life Skills Resource Group Orlando at 407-355-7378, and one of our Orlando Individual Counselors, Orlando Life Coaches, Orlando Teen Counselors, and Orlando Child counselors would be more than happy to help you, a family member, or a friend work on changing your life.