April 2020 will be a month that many of us will never forget, and for some, a story to tell their future children and grandchildren.
While being at home or working from home typically sounds amazing, when you’re forced to work from home for extended periods along with the entire household, this can easily become frustrating. With partners, children, and limited space, being stuck at home trying to work can be very challenging amongst everything else happening in the world.
Changing the environment around us can often be tough or near impossible, but what we can do, is change how we choose to respond.
Below are a few of our favourite ways to decompress and feel at ease whenever we feel those stressful experiences bog us down. In general, there is no one way of managing stress, there are some things that will work better than others, and some things you just simply won’t like to do.
We’d encourage you to try our 3 favorites listed below everyday. They can be very powerful in helping reduce stress and ultimately allowing you to feel better and more energized to do the things you love!
1. Get outside
By far one of our favorite activities when feeling stressed is to get outside! It can be as simple as sitting on your front doorstep or even walking around the neighbourhood. Spending time in nature is one of the BEST things you can do. There are many studies that indicate how spending time in nature is an amazing and natural way to help reduce stress and positively influence our hormones.
Aim to spend 10-20 minutes a day as a start by completing any of the below
- Walking around the neighbourhood
- Sitting in nature or somewhere outdoors
- Visiting your local park
- Hiking/walking in nature
2. Daily planner and Lists
Although everyone today has technology filled with calendars and apps to help schedule our days, nothing seems to beat the old school pen and paper. Both Dr. Pavin Rakhra & Dr. Erin Murphy have utilized the “Passion Planner” over the past few years to help organize their schedule on a daily/weekly/monthly timeline. It’s fun and easy to use, we’d highly recommend it!
If you’re not keen on a daily planner, get out a notepad and a pen. Simply write down a list of things you’d like to accomplish that day or over the next few days. Make sure to list everything on your mind, even the “easy” tasks.
As you finish tasks, simply cross it out or put a check mark beside it. There is something about crossing off lists that just feels so satisfying! Give it a try!
3. Just breathe
Last but not least, take a few deep breaths. Breathing techniques have been around for 100’s of years and are often correlated with practices such as yoga and meditation. Take a second to think back over the years and how many times you’ve said or have heard someone say “Just take a deep breath”. It’s probably a lot!
Breathing has been practiced for centuries to help calm tempers and reduce stressful situations. Research has shown time and time again that simple breathing exercises can be a very powerful tool in improving our overall health and helping with signs of stress, anxiety, and depression.
Option 1 – Find a nice quiet place to sit or lay down. Take long slow deep breaths bringing your attention to your inhale and exhale. Aim to do this for 1-2 minutes working your way up!
Option 2 – A technique called box breathing. In short, everything will be for the count of 3 seconds. Inhale (3sec), hold (3sec), exhale (3sec), hold (3sec). Again, aim for 1-2 minutes as a start point!
If you have any questions make sure to reach out to us.
Enjoy!
