How I Deal With My Stress and Anxiety

In yesterday’s article, I touched on the topic of worry and what’s on my mind. Today, I want to do a deep dive about stress/anxiety.

I’ve been dealing with both since mid to late spring. I let the state of my health get worse by staying up late (some nights as late as 5am with an 8am alarm) and worrying.

It got so bad that I started having health struggles that bled into my entire summer.

My routine for summer 2017 was work, come home, eat/shower, sleep. Repeat. Nothing else. Not even cleaning.

As time went on, it was obvious that things weren’t going to change if I wasn’t going to change (any Jim Rohn fans out there?). I began to make some small changes as I didn’t want to overwhelm myself and quit altogether.

And here’s what I did to start managing my stress and anxiety (in no particular order):

I BEGAN TO MEDITATE.

I discovered the Yoga Studio app a few years back and really loved using their app when I started to learn a little bit about yoga. Their relaxing meditations were my favorite.

Not sure why I stopped using it, but I started doing their deep meditations on mornings where my anxiety is very apparent. Doing meditations in the morning is definitely a stress reliever for me.

I ATE BETTER.

A few weeks ago, I started an alkaline lifestyle for ten days. I’m not going to lie, I felt so much better to a point where I didn’t even need coffee! I’ve been off of it for about a week and a half to give myself a break, but will be back on it next week.

I SLEPT MORE.

Getting rest is easy. Getting a good amount of rest is hard. I knew part of my problem was that I wasn’t getting enough sleep so I set a reminder alarm to let myself know I have about one hour before I need to be in bed.

Sleep is an area I struggle with constantly so I’m going to work really hard to improve my quality of sleep.

I DOVE DEEPER INTO GOD’S WORD. 

When I’m stressed, I turn to the Bible. Since I work a 9-6, it’s hard to stay focused with a physical Bible, so I read a lot of Bible plans about stress, anxiety and fear through my Bible app during my lunch breaks.

His word has helped my reduce my anxiety so much! I also crank up worship music (or any music for that matter) that I know will make me feel better!

I GAVE MYSELF GRACE.

My anxiety got so bad a few weeks ago. For 20 minutes, I couldn’t get myself to calm down. I don’t think my heart has beat that fast in my life. I felt really weird and had never had that feeling before so I ended up texting my co-worker and told her that I’d be late. She was sweet and told me to stay home.

So what did I do? I thought about it. I blame the workaholic in me. Not five seconds later, I decided to give myself grace and took her up on her suggestion. I slept until 1:30pm that day and was so thankful I took time for myself.

It’s been a hard journey for me, but I’m glad to say that I’ve been making progress these last few weeks.

I want to live a stress-free life so I’m working on managing these five areas for the rest of the year and into 2018. I’ll update in a future post on my progress for sure.

If you are dealing with the same thing, I feel you. Talk to me. How do you handle stress and anxiety?

Please note that this content should not be used for diagnosis or treatment of a health problem or disease and serves as informational purposes only. Always consult your professional healthcare provider with any questions you may have.