Ugh, Stress.

I can be a stress head if I let myself.  Really.  Easily.  So I have a few tricks that are lifesavers for me.  When I reflect back at my day, it is the unconscious stress that really derails me…if it was one of those days.

What is unconscious stress?  And how do you quit something you don’t even know is there?

Fabulous questions!  Unconscious Stressors are the ones that are always there, under the surface, waiting to bite you in the patootey.

Let me give you an example with #1

#1  Cruise Control

If you are like me you are always in a hurry these days.  And I see the sign that reads 25 mph, but….I don’t drive 25mph.  Right?  I mean, that’s really slow.  Well…how about the highway…that 60 really means 70 right?  Maybe it means 80?

Ok…so we have established that speed limits are ridiculous.  I concur.  However, there are some folks with fancy lights on their cars who think the opposite…and they have the power to inflict obnoxious pain…so here is what I do.

I set my cruise control.  EVERYWHERE.  The speed limit is 45 then suddenly drops to 25 and I want to stop my car and yank the sign out.  Yes, but instead, I slow my roll and set my cruise control to 27 (that’s literally as slow as my car goes.)

I hit the freeway….and it’s wide open….and just calling for an all out Prius drag race…up to 62…then cruise control….and I don’t have this underlying stress wondering if a cop is around the corner.  I am not worried about a ticket.  And I have to tell you, since I drive a lot….removing that constant stress that’s around the corner from my life…is a life changer.

Which is why we need #2.

#2 Leave 15 minutes early

Yes.  It’s a lot to process…the whole actually driving the speed limit thing, but a way to make yourself actually keep that one, I find, is to leave 15 minutes early.  There is this sense of not being in a hurry that is so delicious.  It’s another one of those stessors always on my mind…will I be late?  This light is taking so long!  This person is driving so slow! All of that, gone.

#3 Pick a line and breathe

I notoriously pick the slowest line.  Weather it’s the ferry line, or the grocery line, or traffic.  I pick the longest one.  Always.  And that used to make me so angry.  I would switch to the fast moving line, only to have the line I was in miraculously start moving. And there would be this STRESS!

Oh man, I would get so mad.

So I made a rule.  I pick a lane, and I stay, and I breathe.  Ferry, traffic or grocery.  That’s my rule.  I never break it…and I have to tell you…almost every line moves exactly the same in the end.

#4 Stash High Protein Food

I don’t know about you, but I get mean when I get hungry.  And I also get stressed worrying where I’m going to find food.  I think that comes from a lifetime of food sensitivities.  So I have protein bars stashed everywhere.  In my car, my office, my purse, my hiking bag…everywhere.  And I make sure to keep them replenished.  This unconscious stress can be the backbone of so many other irritations…so eliminating immediate hunger is a GREAT choice for body/mind/soul contentment.

 

#5 Change the Scene

Sometimes there is this level of stress that humms like white noise…and I can’t place what’s irking me.  And you know what I find?  If I get up and leave, even for a few minutes, it goes away.  Just moving my body, even if it’s just to go check the mail and take a few breaths outside…resets that thing that was off.

You know exactly what I mean already, you’ve probably gotten mad at somebody and just had to go take a walk or a drive and get  away from that scene?  This is the same thing.  The energy can’t change unless something changes it…and I suggest you change it…but I’m a ridiculously independent woman.

I hope some of these easy and practical suggestions, when put to work in your life, help reduce the static of stress and bring your overall joy and bliss up a notch!  I’m all for more love and joy!

 

But I saw this…and had the nicest little giggle…