What is the cause of your stress/anxiety? Have you ever stopped to really think about it?
Conventional wisdom tells us to “take a break” or “relax” when we are feeling this way. This advice may be sound if the reason you are feeling this way is due to overworking .
But what if it’s not?
What if you are experiencing a lot of stress because of:
- Not eating regularly
- Not exercising
- Not sleeping enough
- Too much entertainment (and not enough time taking care of responsibilities)
- Procrastinating
- Not being able to let go of control
- Comparing yourself to others
These are some other things that can cause stress. So how can you get some peace? Focus on what you can do and let God do the rest!
You can :
- Set a daily schedule with regular meal times and learn about what your nutritional needs are.
- Be realistic and commit to trying to exercise everyday. Keep it simple, walking is enough. And don’t beat yourself if you miss a day. Just get back up and try again.
- Give yourself a bed time and awake time. Try to stick to it but give yourself grace when life happens.
- Make a list of which things your ideal day includes. Chances are it will have a lot of hard things like exercise and reading books and maintaining your environment and cooking healthy meals etc. and probably not include copious amounts of screen time (phone, T.V., games, etc) A.K.A. You are probably wasting a lot of time on these things. Some screen time isn’t bad- it can be good – but not when it gets excessive. It will zap your time and energy and you will feel like you wasted your day.
- Read The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins. It will help you stop procrastinating and do all the above things. I think more people suffer because of procrastination than because of working too hard. Just sayin’. The basic idea of the book is you count down “5,4,3,2,1” and you take physical action. It’s truly life-changing.
- Aside from controlling the above things , a lot of life is out of your control and thank God. I’m so glad it’s not all up to me because I’d definitely screw it up! You gotta learn to let go & let God, people. Do what you can do and let God do what only He can do.
- A priest at mass once gave this advice- stop comparing yourself to others, focus on your gifts and have gratitude for them and bless other people and build them up whenever you feel jealous and you are caught in the comparison trap. This will surely bring you some peace.
And on that note, may peace be with you!
