Relieve Stress and Anxiety without medications

Posted by: Rose Tol, R&I Life Coaching, February 22, 2013 Relieve Stress in Life Coaching

Stress and anxiety have become such a pervasive part of life and can catapult someone into an extreme dangerous condition, both emotionally as physically. Some people exist in an ongoing state of "fight or flight". Prolonged hyper adrenal activity can literally burn someone out in a big way. The stress and anxiety that goes in students around test time is off the charts.

It is completely possible to relieve stress and anxiety without medications in most cases. There are many ways to deal with stress, with relaxation and calming techniques. There are habits that need to be changed to relieve stress. But instead of just dealing with the stress and anxiety, if you want to heal and eliminate stress, you have to get to the heart of the matter and go to the source of the problem.

The bottom line to relieve stress and anxiety

There is no such thing as a total "stress free" life. Why? Because some stress is unavoidable and must be dealt with, and because controlled amounts of stress can actually be very beneficial.
Stress is a response to challenges in life, and challenges create the environment for accomplishment and personal growth. In fact, a life without challenges is to boring to contemplate, and we would not grow. If you do not grow you become dead. It is that simple. However much of the stress and anxiety that we do experience in our lives is unnecessary and can be eliminated.
By careful examination of your life and identifying the source of stress for you, by changing certain habits and thoughts you can greatly reduce the feelings of stress in your life.

How to Relieve Stress and Anxiety

Identify the sources of the stress and anxiety.

Now it is time to put your Sherlock Holmes hat on. Make a list by answering the following questions:

1. What events stress you out during the day, week, month?

2. Who or what interactions leave you feeling stressed?

3. What things when you think about it give you stress?

4. When do you feel most stressed out?

p.s you can answer all the steps for anxiety by simply exchanging the stress for anxiety.

Why are the points on your list the stressors?

Once you have the list, spend some time with each point and contemplate "why". Maybe if you remember the feelings as you were doing the activity or being with the person can give you a clue as to the why. Are you trying to be perfect? Are you trying to accomplish too much? Do you have high expectations? Do you have fear to fail? Try to be as specific as you can be with each of the points. Write them down.

Spend time in contemplation and evaluation

Keep your list close to you over the next week and during each day observe yourself in your interactions and your activities with in the back of your mind your list of stressors and the reasons why they are your stressors. Each day, in the morning or evening, take some quiet time and evaluate your list. Change things if they are not correct or add things if new realizations come up.

Going into Action!

After a week of observing and evaluating you will have gained many realizations. Now you are ready to move forward to relieve stress or possibly eliminate it all together by...

Listen - Say Yes - and Act

Let's go back to your perfected list and do the following:

1. Which stressor on the list do you feel comfortable to move out of your life?

2. What action can you take to lessen or eliminate this stressor from your life? i.e what habit can you change that can deliver the desired result?

3. Put this change of habit in place and practice it till you feel you have succeeded. Once you have succeeded to lessen or eliminate the stressor you can go the the next one on the list. If you do this to the best of your ability to relieve stress and you see no positive change, seek professional help, ask a coach to help you.

Examples of habit changes that can help you to relieve stress and anxiety are:

1. Plan Your Day. Create a daily to-do list and put the actions in real time in your calendar.

2. Declutter Your Mind. Start a list where you gather all things and items you need to "remember". This way they are out of your head and you can have a clear and calm mind.

3. Eliminate Unnecessary Commitments. We all so easily spread ourselves to thin. Look at each commitment you have and check the amount of value it provides compared to the amount of pressure it creates. If the stress outweighs the value, something needs to change.

4. Debrief Daily. Spend time each day debriefing your day. i.e. check your to-do today list. Did you get everything done? what did get left undone? check your "remember" list and plan your day for tomorrow.

5. Meditate Regularly. Meditation has proven to relieve stress and in many cases eliminate it for good. Meditation also helps you find the information and the answers you need on how to change your habits.

5. Healthy Diet. A Healthy diet and eating habits can greatly reduce stress. Good nutrition has both a calming and an energizing effect. If you are eating a healthy, balanced and varies diet you will take in a multitude of varies vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients. These are crucial for a calm, equiposed composure and will help you deal with stress so much easier.

6. Exercise Program . As with a healthy diet, a balanced exercise routine that you enjoy can greatly increase your stamina and increase our tolarance levels. This advice is common, and that's because it works. In addition to relieve stress it also helps you to prevent it.

7. Become Organized. Clutter and dis-organization creates unnecessary stress in life. The time we spend looking for things we need creates stress as one example. Take time to complete cycles and organize your life, your drawers, your closets, your minds. It is time well worth spending and decreases future stress.

8. Avoid Multitasking. Having multiple tasks going on at once might seem productive and time saving but in actuallity it slows us down and destroys our ability to really focus. Having to refocus all the time creates unnecessary pressure and disrupts workflow.

9. Resolve Issues. If there are relationships in your life that create stress due to unresolved issues then find a way to resolve them. Sometimes you might have to not have a person in your life for a while to create clarity. Don't postphone talking to someone to find resolution as these things can eat away at us more then we think.

10. Have Gratitude. Gratitude is a super stress buster. It helps us to focus our mind and heart on the positive and thoughts and feelings that give us stress automatically lessen. Gratitude also helps us to put our "little" lives in perspective.

11. Help Someone. As you focus on someone else, you forget about yourself, your worries and your stresses. It is a most potent stress buster. You might think "one more thing to do"...but it works the opposite way. DO IT...you will see.

12. Pause during your day. Take time during your day to pause...be alone...be quiet...breathe. Especially during your workday you should make a point of doing this. Step away from your desk, take a walk outside, stretch your body, enjoy the sun or someone. It will increase productivity and releases and prevents stress. Try the One Minute Meditation; it can do wonders!

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