I was recently asked to present about “De Stressing and Being Your Best” (Thanks for having me @Delmarfairgrounds!) Below are some of the key points that I highlighted within my talk. My hope is for these tips to help you discover the little tweaks and changes that you can uniquely make that can lead you toward less stress and anxiety throughout your days to come.

Here we go.

1. Mind Your Company

It’s a known fact that you’ll become more like the people that you spend the majority of your time with. You’ll mimic their dialect, ways of thinking, ways of treating others and habits; for better or worse. Choose your people wisely my friends.

2. Establish A Morning Routine

Waking up and taking the time and space to establish a strong foundation for your day to unfold for your benefit is a great practice to implement. Giving yourself time upon waking to do practices such as journaling, meditation or breathing to center for your day will greatly benefit you. (*The above practices are just suggestions. The key is to find your unique practice that supports you.)

3. Move Your Body

It’s a given that exercise is a win/win. We all know that we should get out there and do some sort of movement that engages our physical body. Although, just because we know this, doesn’t mean we do it. The spiderweb effect that takes over when healthy amounts of exercise become apart of your routine leads you in a really positive direction. The bonus factor is that exercise creates a lot of positive momentum that leads you to make healthy choices in other areas as well.

4. Get Your Z’s Babe

I can’t highlight enough how important sleep is. It sounds so basic and boring to talk about, yet it’s one of the main foundations that effect our level of functioning. Getting consistent with your sleep while creating a comfortable and calming bedroom environment will support deeper sleep and an overall more restorative rest experience.

5. Eat Well; Be Well

What we eat is absolutely connected to our ability to cope well with our stress and anxiety levels. There are even certain foods, like, turmeric, chamomile and salmon that are linked with reducing anxiety levels, as Michael Pollan states in the book, Food Rules. Our diet effects how we feel and how we feel dictates our daily choices. Did we eat so much that we feel so full and lazy that we opt out of doing something healthy for ourselves? Getting in a habit of making, for the most part, food choices that allow us to feel healthy and well is a key toward living with less stress.

6. Find a Hobby

Get out there, explore and find something to put your mind and time into that fills you up. This is such a quick way to rid of stress, not to mention meeting new people and building confidence. Bringing balance into our lives via finding activities that fill our time that bring us joy and gift us with new experiences is a win/win.

7. Give Yourself The Gift of Time

If you do anything in this busy life, please learn how to take a step back and give yourself the gift of space for self reflection. It will serve you greatly in general and it will also help reduce your stress. When we’re not going so fast, we tend to make better decisions and that immensely effects how our life pans out.

8. Learn How to Deal With Conflict

If I see one commonality within my clients, I see a lot of people who do whatever it takes, good or bad, to avoid conflict at all costs. Why?…..Because conflict is uncomfortable. Difficult conversations are uncomfortable. Although, when we avoid hard conversations and don’t have them, it does lead to more stress in the long run. Truth.

9. Hone the Art of Communication

Learn to be a person of your word. Learn to be a human whose words matches their actions and your life will greatly up level. Mean what you say and say what you mean and you will attract and hone a really solid group of individuals to befriend. You, also, will attract opportunities that will help you thrive in this life. Focus on facts and avoid assumptions and you will notice that communication tends to flow with more grace and ease.

10. Hone Your Intuition

Get witchy! Taking the time to listen to your inner self will absolutely help you lead a less stressful life. When you’re more clear about who you are and what you want you’ll, generally, have a higher degree of inner knowing. This higher level of intuition will help you make choices that not only are right for you, but will effect the people around you for the better as well. A great meditation app that I prefer to start a daily meditation practice is Insight Timer. It’s free!

11. Honor Your Boundaries

Learning to say “NO” when you mean “NO,” with the out most respect for those around you will help you stay in your lane. Meaning, it will help you to avoid taking on what is not yours. Boundaries are one of the most important tools that you can cultivate in order to live a less stressful life. Another perk of having good boundaries is that you tend to avoid attracting people that want to over step your self defined limits. As we’ve all heard, like attracts like and when we have no boundaries we are prime time “bate” for the individuals who want to take. You can avoid this dynamic by creating solid boundaries for yourself.

12. Slow Your Roll

There are so many perks to slowing down. With doing so you will make less mistakes. As counter intuitive as it may seem, going faster doesn’t mean that you’re the one upfront in the long run. Usually the result is quite the opposite. Take the runner that goes out too quick at the beginning of the race. They’re not commonly known to be the winner at the finish line. As we’ve all heard the infamous quote, “Slow and steady wins the race.” So many “rookie” mistakes are made when we’re going too quickly. Not to mention that rushing is very stressful.

Little by little. Small choice by small choice we can create a different way of living that will reduce our overall level of stress. Truly reducing stress is a lifestyle choice. All you have to do is commitment to making some small choices at first, that will, in turn, start changing things for the better. When you see small changes take place, it will inspire you to keep going, leading you more and more to a brighter and less stressful reality.

*Below image by photographer, Amy Lynn Bjornson.

Blog | Licensed Therapist | Self Discovery | North County San Diego, CA