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10 Ways to Stay Calm and Reduce Stress

There is no secret remedy to reducing stress. However, there are ways to stay calm that will actually make a difference in your day to day life by maintaining a more relaxed and positive mindset.

By Sherry CampbellPublished 6 years ago 5 min read
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Stress is inevitable in life, but the way that you react to this stress has everything to do with the way it will affect you. From simply practicing deep breathing to focusing on the positives in your life and trusting yourself, these tips are sure to transform your processing of stress on the daily.

Once you incorporate these tips into your life, they still soon turn into a habit. And these habits will change the way that you think, react, and stress! These are the top ten best ways to stay calm, and to reduce stress.

Take good, deep breaths.

The first thing to consider when you are stressing and worrying is your breathing. When your body reacts to stress, it will typically affect your nervous system, and ultimately alter your breathing. This will likely mean that your breathing becomes shallow, short, or stopped altogether.

As one of the best ways to stay calm, remember to breathe! Instead of allowing your breathing to come from the top of your chest, focus on changing it to come from your diaphragm instead. To start this process, focus on your lower abdomen, and feel each breath.

Breathe in through your nose slowly, and count to four. Repeat this counting as you breath out, and feel the air release from your body. Repeat this a few times a minute, for a few minutes, and you will see a drastic change in your stress, mood, and ability to gauge the situation.

Focus on one thing at a time.

Focusing on everything that is possibly going wrong in your life is a very easy way to overwhelm yourself, fast. Instead, focusing directly on one thing at a time, especially the thing that triggered your stress, will break it down into more bite-sized thoughts.

As one of the best ways to stay calm, focusing on a single aspect of your life will allow you to consider why you are upset and what you can do to fix it.

Relax each of your muscles.

Much like breathing, when you are stressed, your body will automatically tighten your muscles. And though you might not realize it right away, it has a lot to do with the way you are feeling.

If you begin to relax each of your muscles as much as possible, the difference in your stress levels will be dramatic. Plus, this will trick your body into believing that you are less stressed than you actually are. When your mind doesn't seem capable with calming down, start with your body.

Try to exercise.

If it's possible, being able to exercise is one of the best ways to stay calm. Not only releasing endorphins, but anger and anxieties, you will always feel a little bit better after a workout.

This can just mean taking a walk around your block, getting some fresh air, or running for miles. If you're looking for a great anger-releasing workout, try joining a kickboxing class!

Put trust in yourself.

Don't turn against yourself. When you are feeling overwhelmed and anxious, the immediate reaction might be to completely lose hope in a solution to your stresses. What might seem hard to stop, this process is solved in one way: trusting in yourself.

Trust that you will get through this tough part of your life, trust that you only have yourself to get you through it, and trust that you've done it before, why can't you do it again? Being able to trust your own strength is incredibly empowering and calming.

Focus on the positive.

Instead of pointing out every little thing that is going wrong in your life, force yourself to be thankful for one thing. If you are able to pick out one good thing in your life, this should be your focus.

As one of the best ways to stay calm, there is positivity around you, it just might be harder to find right now. Focusing on these positive aspects of your life will allow you to recenter your thoughts, and strive toward getting passed your stresses.

Talk to someone.

Whether this is a friend, a partner, a parent, a brother, a sister, or a therapist, talking to someone about your stresses will allow you to release your frustration. Even if your problems might seem small once you speak them, this is a great process to include in your life.

Complain, scream, get frustrated, but once you're done, you're finished stressing out. Allow the people in your life to support you, help you find a solution, and get passed your stresses.

And if no one's around, write it down! Writing a great source of therapy, and will forever be available to you, whether this is on a napkin, the notes on your phone, or in a diary.

Will it matter tomorrow?

If you find yourself completely stressing out about something that may seem like the biggest deal in the world, ask yourself one question, "Will this matter tomorrow?" One of the best ways to stay calm, considering the long-term effects of the thing that you are stressing about is crucial.

If it is something that won't matter tomorrow, or in a week, consider the way that you react to this stress. Because in just a few days, it will be well past you.

Make a plan.

Take action! Don't just allow yourself to be swallowed by your stress. This won't get you anywhere. So instead of using all of that energy toward negativity, use it to make a plan. How are you going to feel better? What would change your anxiety? What would make things better?

If you can answer any of these questions, you can start toward making a plan to get passed this. Soon enough, you can focus on this process, instead of the problem at hand.

Meditate!

Last, but certainly not least, on our list of the best ways to stay calm is to practice meditating. Meditation is a great way relax, and stay relaxed. There are so many benefits of daily meditation.

And just some of them include focus, better sleep, less stress, lessened pain, and strengthen immunity. With all of these benefits, why wouldn't you give it a shot? It could transform your thought process, and the way that you react to stress completely.

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About the Creator

Sherry Campbell

Second grade teacher by day, at home therapist for two middle school daughters by night.

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