Anxiety & Stress Are They Stealing Your Joy

Anxiety and stress can have debilitating results. For years I suffered through stress, work-related, home, you name it, I could find a way to stress myself out!

Over the past couple of years now, some fantastic results have passed through my life. Yes, I still stress, but boy can control it been enhanced. I will share with you my daily routine and habits that help.

prayer, faith, hope

First, let me say that if you’re struggling to get help from a licensed health care professional. What I am sharing with you is just daily habits that you can try to see if they help. By no means should you feel this is a cure-al?

Simple daily routine changes can help with stress & anxiety:

  1. Learn to quiet the mind. This is just a simple relaxation method that can help you with a clear mind. When the rhetoric in your head can slow down and quiet. Amazing results begin to appear.
  2. This can be a simple walk around your neighborhood. Or you can join a gym. Working out the tension in your body, getting stronger can help you not get so fatigued that your anxiety just increases.
  3. Take a moment often during the day to just breathe. Sixty seconds to breathe in through the nose and out through your mouth. Nice cleansing breaths.
  4. Regulate your soda, coffee, and high caffeine drinks. For most of us, we don’t need more help to get anxious.
  5. Take the time that’s just for you. Watch a sunrise by yourself. Sit by a creek. Do something that is just for you (retail therapy is a no-no. Credit card debt is a stressor). Go shoot baskets at the park, kick a ball, ride a bike.
  6. Stay connected with people that uplift you. Debbie-downer is not your friend. Choose wisely. Don’t hibernate.
  7. Set boundaries for people that bring stress into your experience. If someone can only talk about negative things. Cut them short (YES YOU CAN) politely excuse yourself from that situation “oh I totally forgot ______” hopefully that person gets a clue. You are not anyone’s sounding board for garbage.
  8. Home or office is a mess. Guess what? That is the state of your noodle. Clean up, organize, and enjoy the environment around you. People often tell me the disorganized desk in the office, “that’s just the way I am.” So, you’re a chaotic malfunctioning human, and we should all get over it? I regularly must organize myself, it’s a habit I highly recommend.
  9. Sit down and prioritize your life. I mean down to the last detail. If you tell me you’re a free spirit, you fly by the seat of your pants. Then I say super if you’re a well-adjusted, NORMAL functioning human being I will shut up. Otherwise, organize based on the importance of what you need to do every day. The reason being, if you have a real sense of accomplishment, wow, is that life-changing! Activity vs. Productivity learns the difference now!
  10. Patience and faith. If you can learn to allow life to unfold (yes you must do the work) knowing full well, you’ll be fine. Even when you can’t see a way, you believe with everything that is you, all will be well. Spiritual connectedness will indeed bring about peace in your life.
  11. Learn to be grateful right where you are. If you want more out of life, you must be thankful where you stand. If you want more from the Universe, why would that occur if you’re miserable where you are (NO, I am not suggesting you be grateful in a situation that is emotionally or physically harmful to you). However, if this is not the case and you’re simply aggravated at your lot in life. Be grateful you have a car that gets you to work, you have a job it may suck, but you have one, a roof over your head, food to eat, your health and clothes to wear.

You can find a million reasons to stay in the crap. I just gave you eleven reasons not too. What’s more, you can do each of these with just a little effort.

The real question now; “What are you prepared to do?” Until you make the decision to change your life, expect the same outcome.

No guarantee this will be easy. Nothing worth having is ever easy. I am going to let you in on a secret. For most of our lives, we’ve been taught to run away from pain. Sounds reasonable.

Ponder this:

When you first go to the gym and workout hard, what happens? Soreness from hell hits you. Can’t brush your teeth, can’t raise your arms high enough. You can quit or go back to the gym and work out a bit more until the soreness subsides.

Coaches will push you beyond your mental and physical breaking points. Why? Your head will quit far sooner than your body or mind can handle. Marathon runners are prime examples. “The wall” as marathon runners will tell you hits about the twenty-mile mark, and your brain says your body it’s time to stop. The physical pain that is causing damage to the point if you don’t stop, you could injure yourself or worse die.

Medical studies have proven this is all in your head. Runners are not hurt, injured, or dying. What is happening is our limiting beliefs take over, and it’s; fight-or-flight.

Before you give up, take one more step. If you took the step, then maybe we can go more. It’s all up to you. The ONLY PERSON ON THIS PLANET THAT CAN SAY YOU CAN OR CANNOT. IS YOU!

Don’t let anxiety and stress take your joy. If you need professional help go, get it. I am putting a resource to help you get started. This is not a paid endorsement, nor an endorsement by me. It’s just a great place to get started.

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National Institute for Mental Health

Quit, No Not Today

Get out of your head quitting is an option for anything other than bad habits. What this article will help with is not stopping the good stuff just because it seems too hard. It’s only hard because your brain is telling you that it is, just like it would when running a Marathon and you hit the wall.

Most of us know that Marathon runners hit what’s called “The Wall” where your brain starts telling you that “you can’t go more, you’re hurt,” “your body can’t take more.” When in fact studies show none of that to be true. Pushing through this is how you finish the race.

The brain will develop over years of conditioning run from the first sign of pain. Your mind will tell you “no, don’t do more,” this is futile. The natural response is to move you away from pain. When in fact it’s just like training. When you go to the gym for the first time and work out hard with that comes to suffering from not having worked out in a very long time.

God, hope, prayer

The soreness from working out hard can be extreme. The same principle applies to retrain the brain that you are okay. It will hurt, your mind will tell you that what you’re trying is impossible. It is not, nothing could be further from the truth.

Many times, throughout this last year, I have wanted to give up. I kept saying to God, “I’m not losing anymore.” Over-and-over again I would say those words. Frustrated, I kept moving forward even when I saw absolutely no reason to keep going when you dig in and maintain forward momentum.

Just like working out, the soreness goes away with time. It’s not easy, but it does get better, and you become wiser.

God is like a coach when you feel as though you can’t go on, keep moving. When you show God, you can handle where you are; the blessings will come in abundance. Just stay in faith that even though you cannot see a way, a way is being made!

Not being able to predict the future frustrates us all. Having faith when you cannot see what is ahead, or your brain is telling you disaster. For most, this is where they crumble. The difference in winning and losing can be just taking one more step.

If you get knocked down, get up! Look for ways to improvise, adapt, and overcome your situation. More than one way to finish anything! Just because you chose a wrong path does not mean you can’t find the right one. If you quit, you never will.

Fight or flight will always kick in when you need it not too. Fight, stay in the game, and work your way through.

Here are some activities you can do to help:

  • Learn to quiet your mind.
  • Take times during your day for sixty seconds to breathe.
  • Walk, get rid of stress and tension in your body. Make it easier to focus.
  • Listen to some music that gets you pumped up — changing your state-of-mind.
  • Listen to an uplifting Podcast.
  • Watch a video about motivation, success, self-improvement.
  • Your home’s appearance is in direct tune with your head. You have cluttered house cluttered mind clean the house! Same goes for your workspace.
  • Get to Church. Spiritual mind in tune. Life changing.

Running, sure you can choose the flight and give up. That’s a choice, not a directive.

Begin right now; do something that moves your life forward. Don’t make an excuse!

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Comments or questions:

Snooze Button or Life

Is your ass out of that bad at 4:00 AM every day. Ready to meet the day, be there when the break of a lifetime dumps right in your lap. Oh, wait you’re still in bed.

If you can’t get your ass out of bed. Why would I hire you? You need to tell people you get more done before 7:00 AM than most get done in a day!

“A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. There will be sleeping enough in the grave.”–Benjamin Franklin

Questions you seriously need to ask yourself:

  • Is sleeping in more important than my family?
  • Is sleeping in more important than my Success?
  • Is sleeping in more important than my Body temple?
  • Is sleeping in more important than my Workout?

We could list hundreds more. Go ahead, reach over, and hit the snooze button. Hell NO!

24-hour day – 6 hours sleep – 8-hour work day = 10-hours left to have a life! What are you prepared to do?

Stop convincing yourself morning-after-morning that you’re not a morning person. BS! The most exceptional salesperson in the world is you. You sell yourself everyday mediocrity, and you keep buying. Stop NOW selling yourself short in your life.

By the time you see this sunrise, you will have achieved more in your day than most will in an 8 hour day! 

society, self improvement, sunrise

Mind over HELL YES IT MATTERS! How bad do you want to succeed? This is NOT a sacrifice but an investment in your success. We’ve talked about this before, if you feel anything you’re doing involves sacrifice. Rethink your position. Every step you take is one step closer to success in every aspect of your life, that is NO sacrifice!

Begin your day at 4:00 AM. 

Or hit the snooze button and watch life pass you by. Who knows the person you can become if you get out of bed and blaze a trail for others to follow. For some of you by the time you get up the world has zipped by with opportunity, oh you were sleeping, huge break, oh you were sleeping, the love of your life was going to cross your path at the gym today, oh you were sleeping.

If your life right now does not wake you up. This is your wake up call it’s 4:00 AM and this day filled with your success! Or hit the snooze button, it’s a choice.

So just getting up is not enough. Here are some great investments you can make towards a great life:

  1. Roll out of bed onto your knees and pray! 
  2. Set time aside to meditate.
  3. Walk, take a brisk walk.
  4. Study something that fills your mind with more knowledge. 
  5. Finish a project you’ve put off. 
  6. Read.
  7. Feed your body healthy food, protein shakes, fresh juice. Take care of the body temple. 
  8. Yoga.

Eight simple things you can do all before 6:00 AM.

Here is food-for-thought:

1 hour of study per day = 365 Hours of research in one year! If knowledge is power, imagine 365 hours of it packed into your brain. Or you can hit the snooze button.

Change is not easy, but damn what are you waiting for. This is something I fight with myself every day. The voice in your head will convince you just five more minutes. Don’t get sold a sack of dog poo.

You will be in good company tomorrow morning if you wake up with me. At 4:00 AM I will look to the sky and say good morning, Dewayne “The Rock” Johnson will be hard at cardio, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet will be up. Not to mention the other winners just like YOU that say, “Enough is Enough its MY Time!”

Questions or comments:

Today be Present in the Moment

Being present in the moment is something I learned later in life and at some cost. Life can get hectic, bills, stress at work, you could fill in dozens of more distractions.

What do we mean by being present in the moment? If your children are tugging on you to pay attention to them. When your mind is somewhere else, focused on how you’re going to pay the rent, for example. Kids can sense when you’re not paying total attention.

self help, play, fun

Even a spouse can sense when you are not really there. The mind is sifting through tons of garbage, not what is at hand. Just, not paying attention.

It’s easy to justify the stress overtaking the moment. “If I don’t focus on my work, we don’t eat.” That very well may be true to a point. Eight o’clock at night business is closed, you can give your spouse, or children some of your time.

Being able to be present at the moment with family is precious. You can’t get back time, ever! What I learned the hard way is that your stress will be there in the morning, why not leave it at the front door. Easier said than done!

Here are some things I do today so that I can be present at the moment:

  1. Stress if I allow overtaking my brain, makes matters worse. Learn to harness your fear. If you freak out, that is precisely what your Universe will deliver to you!
  2. Meditate daily. Learn to relax, focus your mind. It’s in these moments solutions will come to you. Peace will come to you!
  3. Breathe, you heard me breathe. During the day, stop and breathe. Take a couple deep cleansing breaths and then breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. Do this for about a minute only. Try it you will be amazed.
  4. Prioritize time for your family. They’re way more important than ANYTHING else you could be focused on. Happy breeds Happy in your home! You bring the stress and guess what, that’s what the family gets, stress. Stop it!
  5. Take a walk. I am not talking about going to the gym to take a step. Get outside and clear your head. Enjoy the world around you. Learn to relax. Walking helps to do this. This is not a workout walk, this is holding the hand of your spouse walk.

Don’t put this off until tomorrow, next month, you need to give this gift to yourself. Time is more precious than we imagine while stressed out. If you can’t be present at the moment for your family voluntarily, what would happen if heaven forbid you were forced to focus. A health reason, someone got injured, you could find time then.

Don’t waste this precious time in your life focused on the bills, work stress, hell everyone has that. Give those that love you, YOU! Don’t tell your children you’re too busy. Don’t tell your spouse you’re too busy.

Unaquivicably, I can tell you that all the stress, worry, I brought too my life didn’t make tinkers damn in the final outcome. Meaning, it only brought more of the same full frontal stress!

Stop at the moment breathe, smile, and enjoy.

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