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

We all need a little Help

We all need a Little Help from time-to-time.

“Be true to yourself, help others, make each day your masterpiece, make friendship a fine art, drink deeply from good books – especially the Bible, build a shelter against a rainy day, give thanks for your blessings and pray for guidance every day.”—John Wooden

A sad truth about our mental health system does not only do people fear it as a stigma; most folks cannot afford it. Insurance pays some, but I think we all can agree on coverage in most instances falls way short of what someone needs regarding mental health.

The good news is with the information you can find affordable mental health care even if you don’t have medical insurance. A great many mental health clinics work on a sliding scale, many non-profits and MHMR facilities also provide affordable mental health care.

Mental health, hope, happiness

Many Churches and faith-based organizations offer Pastoral Care. For those that are thinking this is a religiously based session, you’re wrong. Although supported by religious organizations, this is about mental health. You can undoubtedly ask for prayer and other spiritual support, but you don’t have to, to receive services.

Local internet searches in your hometown will also yield you great information and resources local to you.

Check with your county hospital; ordinarily, social workers will have a list of local mental health resources that you can utilize.

Internet searches can give you many articles, videos, and like information that you can begin to use to start the process (keep in mind nothing replaces a professional doctor or mental health professional).

Affordable care is out there; you just have to search for it a bit.

Second Part of this article is more in line with finding ways to just feel a bit better. For example, meditation, yoga, and exercise.

Meditation has been a great source of comfort and indeed focuses my mind. Doing anywhere that you can find privacy is comfortable. It works best for me with headphones and good meditation music. You can find tons of great information and music on YouTube for free.

Just find a time that you can be uninterrupted and alone. My bedroom laying on my be is where I find the best peace. Focus on your breathing, get relaxed, and vision in your mind’s eye that which you want. Peace, happiness, and joy! See yourself in the right place. Over time you will learn how to block out the negative energy and find a beautiful home in your mind.

Yoga is a beautiful way to get Intune with your body. Bikram Yoga, for me, is terrific. The room is hot, and you sweat. The warmth really helps relieve tension by relaxing your muscles. It’s a beautiful release, I always feel better after Yoga.

Breathe, yes it sounds too simple but just breathes. Take a couple of minutes per day to just breathe. Take a few deep cleansing breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth. Then focus for about a minute to slowly relax and breathe. Focus your attention on your breathing.

No matter how bad things are in your life, the preceding is easy to do, and it’s two of them are free. Yoga, you may find free Yoga classes at a local community center, many Yoga studios’ offer a free class every now and again.

When you can get outside of yourself for a short time, you will be amazed at how solutions will come to you. When you’re freaking out that all is lost that is the energy you pull in. Stop it by doing these few simple things. They won’t solve your problems, but any step forward is one step closer to happiness.

Hope is out here. No matter how desperate your situation may be, hope is here. Help is not that hard to find; sometimes, it just takes a bit of searching.

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If you have any questions: