Everyone’s talking about stress today. It affects us all to a greater or lesser extent, and when it overwhelms us we can come to consider it as pathological. However, it is adaptive and natural.

Stress is the process that is activated when a person detects a dangerous or new situation for their life experience. This usually consists of changes that require us to overexert ourselves and therefore unbalance our well-being . It can become an uncomfortable and unpleasant experience.

We have to consider that stress is not always negative; sometimes it is effective to activate new personal resources, which generates a healthy self-esteem and increases our skills to face future circumstances successfully. Now then… what to do to manage excess stress?

Keys to Keep Your Stress from Overflowing

Are you feeling overwhelmed by stress in your life? Are you living in a constant roller coaster of uncomfortable emotions? I’ll give you some good news, or better yet, two. The first is that you can manage your stress. And the second is that it’s mostly up to you.

From now on I’m going to show you seven keys so that you don’t feel that stress is overtaking you in your life.

1. Practice progressive relaxation and do what feels good

To keep stress at bay, he trains daily in progressive relaxation. It will take you only fifteen or twenty minutes .

On the other hand, try to enjoy the positive daily experiences you have and put your attention to it. Consider that enjoying and having fun is not a luxury, it is a priority.

2. This, here and now

Live in the moment, take advantage of every day and tomorrow will be seen. Here you have to make the saying your own: Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today when it comes to enjoying yourself.

Try to enjoy every moment of well-being as if it were your last. You know that the important thing is in the little things in life : having a snack and savouring it, in the conversation with a friend…

3. Do sport

You know that practicing sports produces physical and mental well-being. You generate endorphins that make you feel good. Also, by appreciating that you are better and healthier, you will feel better. You will improve your self-esteem and thus have more confidence in yourself.

4. Think and behave positively

It is about putting positive thoughts into our minds and behaving in the same direction . Try to focus your attention on what you have, not on what you lack.

Thinking in a positive way only will not solve your day, but if you also implement behaviors in that direction there is a greater chance that you will have greater welfare, and you will be able to regulate your stress.

5. Decides

Make a decision on the best option. That you’re still wrong? Then you will have learned . It is clear that if you don’t decide you don’t make mistakes, but this way you don’t move forward and you don’t learn. Thinking about the same thing, ruminating, will make it easier for the stress to overflow you. Think for a moment about what you would do if you were not afraid and do it.

6. Invest in experiences, not things

You must know that things are not the important thing in life, what is more valuable are the experiences. Scientific studies have shown that it is more advisable to invest in experiences, since they will bring you a more lasting happiness than buying material things .

And if not, remember, for example, that when you have taken a trip, you will always remember it as something very pleasant. I’d say it’ll become even more valuable as the years go by. On the contrary, when you buy a vehicle, it will lose value as time goes by.

Bibliographic references:

  • Goldstein, D. S.; Kopin, I. J. (2007). Evolución de los conceptos de estrés. Estrés: The International Journal on the Biology of Stress. 10 (2): 109–120.
  • Siegrist, J. (1996). Efectos adversos para la salud de las condiciones de alto esfuerzo/baja recompensa. J Occupational Health Psychology, (1), 27-41.