5 Ways to Cope up with Stress
“Stress brings about significant physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral changes, thus affecting our daily life and also our overall performance, decision making, and other responses.COVID 19 and this lockdown has brought about a situation which is unlike what we've ever faced before, thus leading to a lot of uncertainty and stress”
-Madhavi Sharma, Mental Health Counselor at 'The missing counselor'
As this pandemic has hit our lives hard this year, it has been a difficult time for all of us. It is challenging to not overthink and stress out about everything that has been happening around us, which directly affects both our emotions and our mental state. Stress is our body’s natural way of reacting to and dealing with pressure, anxiety, threat, and reassurance.
Especially during this time of quarantine, there is a comparatively more chance you might be stressed and frustrated due to the same cycle of days limited within the four walls of your home, and the same series of thoughts running around your head.
Here are 5 ways for you to help yourself cope up and reduce your stress levels, especially during times when everything seems to be going downhill.
1. Build a Routine
It is quite convenient to gather up your thoughts and plans within yourself in order to make space and give yourself time to take in what is happening. Having no routine and plan often makes you worry about getting your work done. Creating order and making a plan about what you will be doing today, and reminding yourself to take breaks to catch up with your mental well-being can help you worry less about the burden of work and pressure you might be under, leading to better stress levels.
2. Meditate
These days, we are so caught up with our work and our daily lives to even take some time out for our mental health and well being. Meditation can be a great kick start to a peaceful and relaxing day for once. It helps ease anxiety, improve concentration, and loosen up your thoughts. All you need to do is find a comfortable and cozy place for you around the house and just take your time to relax. Focus on your breathing and let go of whatever it is you are holding on to. Reaching a meditative state can take practice, but keeping up a consistent schedule every day, you will definitely notice the change in your efficiency, level of stress, and, most importantly, your state of happiness.
3. Find yourself a hobby
Apart from your daily chores and everyday work you need to do in a day, find yourself a hobby! Give yourself a chance to discover your long-lost amusement. Something that doesn’t put you in a pressuring position to finish it, but rather refreshes your mind and makes you happy. Research shows that doing what you love and genuinely enjoy doing decreases your stress level by 50% and it also lowers your heart rate. Maybe it is reading or gardening, crafting, sewing, painting whatever it may be, as long as it feels like it is worth your free time and effort.
4. Keep Connecting with people
Loneliness and detachment from your social life can give you an excuse to overthinking and stress out about normal things in life. Talking to your family, friends, and loved one’s time and again, and finding support for yourself through the conversations is very essential, especially during this time of isolation. Having a person you can rant about our day and share your feelings to, whom you can listen to as they talk about their day and feeling can give you the purpose and importance of socialization and having a companion. Sharing your thoughts can help you reduce stress and anxiety, along with refreshing your mind and giving yourself a chance to let go of the heavy feeling that has been stressing you out.
5. Look back at your accomplishments
Rather than being afflicted over something you should be doing, be grateful and happy about what you already did today instead. We are all just a work in progress and you can’t expect yourself to be done with everything in a single day. Don’t pressurize and distress yourself with negative thoughts and pessimistic intention, when you can pat yourself in the back and collect the encouragement to do more and be more productive in the time and days to come. The reflection and appreciation process can help step up your self-esteem, ease anxiety, and decrease your stress hormones.
