Your Mind, Your Mood: Keep Your Stress in Check

We all suffer from various forms of stress. Between paying our bills, being on time for appointments, dealing with family, trying to fit in personal time, and the other myriad of things to accomplish in a day, it is easy to let stress overtake you.

And when that happens we usually fall into a bad mood and a negative way of thinking. Little things become more important in our mind than they actually are and start to cause us even more stress.

It’s a vicious cycle, but not one that we have to fall victim to.

Stress is not good for your mind or body. It can make you feel nauseous, dizzy, increase your chance of catching a cold, as well as cause chest pain and a decrease in libido. Doesn’t sound like fun does it?

We often accept stress as a normal and expected part of our lives but it shouldn’t be. It should not be something that we allow to creep into ourselves. There are things that are going to cause you stress no matter what – that is unavoidable – but being aware of the little things that shouldn’t is what is important.

There needs to be a distinction between what should be stressed over, and what shouldn’t be. And once that distinction is made it will become so much easier for you to regulate your moods and keep yourself happy.

When you wake up in the morning, decide that you are not going to let the little things get you down. Resolve to do your best to get things done, but not to push yourself too hard or beat yourself up if you don’t do everything on your list.

Actually, since most of us give ourselves a ridiculously long list of things to do, it’s probably better to work on shortening your daily task list.

Think about everything you want to get done and then evaluate how realistic it is to do it all in one day. Only give yourself goals that you can actually reach, otherwise you’ll end up beating yourself up for no reason.

What’s most important? Do that first, and then go down your list.

Mental health is just as important as physical health. Being in good physical health will, of course, help your mental health, but to live a happy life it is vital to recognize the correspondences between your diet and exercise and what is going on inside your mind.

Your mind is one of the few things in the world that you have complete control over and it can either lead you into happiness and peace or completely ravage your sense of self-worth and send your stress level through the roof. Don’t let it.

When you sense your stress levels raising it’s a good idea to take a deep breath, center yourself, and focus on keeping them in control.

Try to stop what you’re doing and just focus on your breathing, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. Think about what it is that is stressing you out. How important is it in the grand scheme of your life?

Worrying about things won’t change their outcome, and hurrying to accomplish small things (and throwing yourself into turmoil over it) will not benefit you in any way.

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