Stress Fest
I had some enlightened political post planned for today, but instead, I decided it was high time I got a little bit vulnerable with this blog. The last few weeks I have been under incredible pressure. I have been ridiculously stressed before, but not since university, and even then I handled it in questionable ways.To set the scene: I have been travelling for the last 6 weeks nonstop. I rolled on to a difficult to please client, with tons of time-sensitive work, and I fly out every Monday morning to see them and fly back late at night on Thursday evenings. When I return home, I feel like I'm being pulled in a million different directions between spending time with my boyfriend, my family, my friends, and my own personal hobbies like this blog.
Usually, I think of myself as pretty collected. The last few weeks...not so much. The tiniest comment from someone can send me into a full-blown depression spiral (suicidal thoughts, and all), and my anxiety levels are so through the roof that I've had a sobbing breakdown almost every Saturday for five weeks straight. We are talking on the floor of the bathroom ugly crying until I can barely breathe and my face is so puffy it looks like I had an allergic reaction to something. So you could say I've been rather high strung lately and it has not been pretty (it should be noted that my boyfriend has been extra great these past few weeks and deserves a shoutout).
Believe it or not though, I am actually handling the added stress much better than I have in the past and that's because of one simple thing: I have not given up on my wellbeing.
In the past, when I'm under this much stress, my diet goes to shit (like gummy bears for dinner), my sleep takes a hit from staying up late trying to distract myself with shitty TV, and my workout schedule becomes just another chore. Although these behaviors felt like they were helping in the moment, ultimately they bit me in the ass HARD. My skin broke out, I was tired all the time, and I felt out of control.
Clearly, I'm no expert but my ONE tip on handling stress is to keep your wellbeing a priority. It is the one thing you can always control and the one thing that may just keep you sane as all the external craziness washes over you. Below, I've outlined what I do every single day to mitigate my stress and promote wellbeing. Not all of these will sound appealing to everyone, and maybe they don't even apply to some of you. Everyone has their 'things' that help them feel healthy, whole, and in control. As long as you know what yours are and you make the effort to practice them no matter what, then you can't really go wrong.
You knew this was coming - I workout. 6 days a week, I make an effort to do something active. During the week, these are especially helpful because it helps me expel any negative energy that comes from a stressful day with the client. On Fridays and Saturdays, it is simply about feeling good about my body.
Diet. This one has been harder to control lately as I've been travelling so much, but I've made a special effort to eat better while on the road. Eating lots of heavy, rich foods just makes me feel tired and slow. I notice a visible difference when I eat lighter, more nutrition dense meals for lunch and dinner. I also limit my desserts as those are usually my kryptonite.
Meditation. This one is a new thing I've been doing since the start of 2018. I take ten minutes every day to go through a meditation exercise to regulate my breathing and practice controlling my perception of certain emotions. I use the Headspace app since I'm not practiced enough to guide myself through a meditation and the app has this calming male British voice to walk me through exercises which makes it much easier.
Self Improvement - This takes many forms, but for me, I spend ten to fifteen minutes every single day practicing either my Greek or my Spanish (unfortunately Mandarin is getting left out because Duolingo doesn't carry it). I also spend a half hour to an hour every day reading or writing. These are things that I'm doing for my own personal growth and that feel especially rewarding because I am doing them solely for my own improvement, not for anyone else.
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It's important to note that while these things help enormously in terms of keeping me feeling like I'm in control, I am still reduced to an insecure pile of tears every Saturday so there is still work to be done. And it's also significant to note that it's ok to be overwhelmed sometimes. It's going to happen. The important thing is that you have an action plan to get on top and get going again.