There’s more to April than blooming flowers and sunshine. We’re celebrating Stress Awareness Month and want to help you better navigate the stressors in your life! Coping mechanisms like bubble baths and breathing can be extremely helpful, but sometimes that’s just not enough to shift your mindset and perspective on the actual stressor. We want to offer a few different suggestions that can not only calm you down instantly, but bring a more hands-on and cognitive approach that doesn’t feel so cliche.  

Step Out of Your Head 

If you’re struggling with a stressful situation that feels like it has no end in sight, try taking a step back for a second to reflect. There are dozens of different ways to do this, but try picking an activity that forces you to get out of your head. This could be going for a walk, cleaning your room, or baking your favorite dessert. It forces you to focus on a different task that is simple and you know you can achieve. This is an example of mindfulness and practicing this technique can allow your mind to reduce those intrusive, racing thoughts for better problem solving skills. Once you finish baking your favorite banana bread or walking in your favorite park, you’ll feel ready to tackle the stress head-on with a clearer mind. 

Look Through a Different Lens

Our mind can be our best friend, or our worst enemy. If it’s the latter, then we’re not going to have any other helpful input to solve a problem or handle stress. When we’re stuck in our own ways, it can be beneficial to ask a friend or family member that we trust for any insight into what’s stressing us out. They have a completely different mind than you with different life experiences, opinions, and beliefs. Ask at least three other people what they would do in your situation, so you can have a fresh, unbiased outlook towards your stress and approach it using different angles. They might help you think of a solution that you hadn’t thought of previously while you were stuck in your own head! 

Write Out Your Feelings

As hard as it can be to face your stresses directly, this can help some people feel like they’re more in control. Think of how your stress is making you feel, then jot down each and every emotion on the page. Good or ugly, write down your thoughts and sit with them for a couple of minutes. Too much pent-up stress can wreak havoc on your body and using writing as an outlet for that stress can help make you feel like you’re releasing all of that bottled up stress in your body. You’ll feel much lighter after a good writing session! As a mental health expert, psychology professor, and author, James Pennebaker, PhD is a personal fan of using writing as a stress relief tactic. “I think the real art is translating an emotional experience into words. And by doing that, that changes the way that experience is organized in the brain, and it slows down your thinking process.

Put a Timeframe on Your Stress

This technique can be extremely useful for the stress in your life that isn’t permanent or long-lasting. Are you stressed about a doctor’s appointment coming up? Stressing over paying rent this month? Pick out a designated time during the day, and set up a “worrying” period that can be 15 minutes or up to an hour. Focus all of your fears, anxieties, and stress into that specific time and think things over as best as you can. Allow yourself to feel everything that is stressing you out and dwell as hard as you can! Once that timeframe is up or the timer goes off, immediately refocus your energy on bigger and better things going on in your life. You’ve given yourself permission to be stressed, now it’s time to focus on the things going right in your life!