3650: 5 Stress Management Techniques by Lucy Miller with No Sidebar on Finding Calm

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[00:01:00] This is Optimal Finance Daily, 5 Stress Management Techniques by Lucy Miller with NoSidebar.com and I'm Justin Malek. This is the show where I read to you every day, but on Sundays I like to share an episode from a different podcast in our network. And today I'll be featuring my brother's show, Optimal Health Daily. You can find that wherever you're listening to this. So without further ado, here's Dr. Neil with the post and his commentary. 5 Stress is an inevitable part of your life.

[00:01:34] 5 Stress Management Techniques by Lucy Miller with Nosidebar.com Stress is an inevitable part of life, but learning to manage it is something that will benefit you greatly. Once you realize that you are the one in control of your life and the decisions you make, your stress will be easier to handle.

[00:01:52] As you evaluate the way you currently handle stress, it might be as simple as writing in a journal, going for a jog, or escaping in your favorite book, you will be able to determine if your ways of coping with stress are healthy and productive. If they are not these two things, it might be time to change your stress management techniques and try something new. When dealing with stress, you can either change your attitude or remove yourself from the stressful situation.

[00:02:18] Not everyone will handle stress the same way, and it is oftentimes beneficial to have several different options for coping with each unique situation you might face. Here are five stress management techniques for you to try next time you feel stressed out. 1. Get rid of unnecessary stress. Stress is something that is going to come for each of us at different times and in different forms.

[00:02:43] While it is impossible to completely avoid it, there are a few things you can do to eliminate the amount of stress you are dealing with. Don't be afraid to say no. Oftentimes, we feel like we have to always be available to help other people out. While it is important to be available for our loved ones, we have to remember to take care of ourselves too. Saying no doesn't mean you are a bad person. You just have to keep yourself from having too much on your plate at one time.

[00:03:11] You can surround yourself with positive people. Negativity is contagious, and if you are around people who are bringing you down, then it is time to find some new friends to spend your time with. Be in control. Remembering that you are the one in control of your life and your decisions will help your whole perspective on the situation. And don't overbook your life. Keep your schedule open for downtime. When children are small, they need naps to recharge during the day.

[00:03:39] Adults also need designated time during the day to relax and do what they want to do. Keep your schedule open for this to be a possibility for you. 2. Change the situation. Sometimes we are faced with situations where we can't control the amount of stress that is being thrown at us. There are, however, ways for us to alter the situation to make it easier for us to bear. For example, don't bottle it up.

[00:04:04] Bottling up your emotions only leads to an explosion later on that could have been avoided if you had just spoken your mind and let your feelings be known. Voicing your opinion and emotions will allow other people to help you conquer the stress you are dealing with. You can manage your time better. If you are running late on deadlines, you are going to be stressed out. Keep a planner and stay on top of your obligations and life will be much easier. And be strong.

[00:04:29] If something is being done that you do not agree with or feel to be wrong, be assertive and strong and stand up for yourself. 3. Change yourself. If you cannot change the situation, consider trying to change your mindset and position on the matter at hand. Once you change your mindset, you will be better able to navigate through the stressful situations you find yourself in. For example, you can stay positive. When you are feeling stressed out, think about all of the positive things happening in your life.

[00:04:58] This will make the stress seem small and your blessings seem much bigger. Consider the bigger picture. Having a better perspective on the whole situation is important as you are dealing with various things. If you won't remember this current situation a week or a year from now, then it's not worth your time to be overly stressed out. You can also lower your expectations. We often have very high expectations for people in our lives. And when they can't live up to them, we get disappointed and feel down.

[00:05:26] Don't lower them too much, but also try not to hold people to expectations you can't live up to yourself. Well, remember, everyone is human and we all make mistakes from time to time. Four, accept your life. When dealing with situations such as the loss of a loved one or an unforeseen illness that strikes your household, there is no way to avoid the stress that comes along with it. Instead, the best way to move past it is to just accept the situation. You can't control the uncontrollable.

[00:05:55] Knowing there are things in life that we cannot avoid is imperative to living a stress-free life. And five, have fun and love your life. A great way to handle stress is to increase your resistance to it. Making your life as happy and healthy as possible will leave little to no room for stress to creep in. Be sure to sleep, sleep, sleep. When you are losing sleep, your whole life can be thrown out of its normal routine.

[00:06:22] Maintain a good sleep schedule so you can keep anxiety, stress, and sadness to a minimum. Exercise daily. Getting your endorphins running and your body healthy will help you to feel more confident and more in control of your life. And be with others. Surround yourself with those whom you love and can be yourself around. These people are your rock and will help you when life gets hard. You just listened to the post titled,

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[00:09:12] Get started today. Dr. Neil here for my commentary. These are all fantastic tips. Like I've said many times before on this podcast, when you hear all of these wonderful tips and ideas, I hope you don't feel overwhelmed. Because the trick is this. Pick one or two tips that really jumped out at you to try out. So as you were listening, you may have said, Ooh, I like that idea. Oh, that sounds really good. And then you may have heard the other ones and said, That wouldn't quite work for me.

[00:09:41] Or, Ooh, I don't like that one as much. Pick the one or two that jumped out at you that you feel like you could try. Then, of course, you actually have to try them out. But don't feel like you have to try all of these tips at once in order to live a stress-free life. Because really, we can't avoid stress. There's no way to do that. Our bodies actually need a little bit of stress. In order to function and really function optimally, we actually have to be stressed out just a little bit. But that little bit of stress that makes us function at our best isn't harmful.

[00:10:11] It's the stress that pushes us over the edge, where we lose sleep, where we forego exercise, where we don't eat as well as we should. That's the harmful stress. And students often ask me, Dr. Neil, which one would you pick? If you had to pick one stress management technique, what would you do? Well, I always say, Well, I'll pick two. One is exercise. We're learning that from head to toe, exercise improves pretty much every cell in the body. It makes pretty much every cell function better. The second tip is control.

[00:10:41] What we're learning from a lot of better data now is that having a sense of control over things can help reduce our stress levels. And if you don't have control over something, then you've got to think about that situation in other ways. You've got to let go of trying to control a situation that you really have no control over. I always give the example of traffic. If traffic stresses you out, well, you really don't have control over other people's driving. So you've got to find another way to cope.

[00:11:09] For me, it's podcasts and listening to books on Audible. That's how I zone out. But when there are things in your life that you can control, use that control. And that will help lower your stress. For example, a colleague of mine whom I supervise was making the same mistake over and over and over again. And it was starting to stress me out because I would constantly have to correct that mistake. And I had hoped that after seeing my correction that they would learn, but they didn't. And so to relieve my stress, I took control of the situation and actually had a meeting.

[00:11:39] I know it sounds like common sense, but I had a meeting with this colleague and said, look, I'm seeing the same mistake happen over and over. Can you be sure it doesn't happen again? I tried to take control of the situation so that it relieves my stress and hopefully it won't happen again. After all, I'm their supervisor. It's my job to tell them these things. I just didn't take control over the situation before. And sure enough, the behavior changed and the quality of work has improved. But again, re-listen to this episode.

[00:12:08] See what things jump out at you. See what's important to you in your life and try those out. And hopefully they work. But if they don't, listen to this again and try out some of the other tips. And hopefully those will work. And if those don't, keep at it and keep trying new things. And I promise you'll find something that works for you. All right, that'll do it for today. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for listening every day. Thank you for sharing this show with someone. I hope you're having a wonderful weekend and I'll see you back here tomorrow

[00:12:37] where your optimal life awaits.