We are living in a world where everything is becoming increasingly interconnected, making our lives easier as a whole. While great, this also means that it is that much harder to disconnect and find an ample opportunity to turn your mind off and enjoy some true peace and quiet; which leaves the question: How am I supposed to healthily deal with the stress that comes with staying connected and available all the time?
While stress relief and general mental health well-being advice is something that functions on a case-by-case basis, there are a few fundamental concepts that apply to everyone, and, if applied correctly, can alleviate unnecessary stress in your private or work life. So, without further ado, let’s get you started on your path to peace of mind with my first tip.
1. Assess your environment
One of the most important steps that you should take prior to proceeding further is assessing your environment. Try to spend some time reflecting on the moments where you feel the most stressed and really try to get to the bottom of the source of this. This could mean taking a moment at the end of your workday to rerun that day’s events in your mind, trying to pinpoint the breaking point at which you started noticing your stress. If you feel lost on how to do this, follow these simple few steps.
Take a moment to retreat to a quiet place where you can focus on your thoughts
Try to find the moment during your day when you started having a “bad” or “stressful” day
Ask yourself, which parts of your day could’ve caused your eventual stress?
It’s imperative that this is done properly because it acts as a baseline for the rest of the steps you need to take. Essentially, how well you assess the source and reasons for your stress will carry over to the effectiveness of the rest of your efforts.
While I believe that this is a great place to start, there may be certain situations in which you can’t find the source or the point at which your stress becomes noticeable. While this may be extremely demoralizing at first, it’s a clue that you may not be so communicative with yourself and is another great indication of the steps you need to take.
2. Be Consistent and Patient
One of the biggest reasons that cause people to give up on their journey to practicing peace of mind is the time it takes to start to see noticeable changes and improvements in your well-being. Humans are strange creatures who can adapt extremely well to all sorts of environments, but we still take quite a while to psychologically change. This is why my second key point is not only to be patient in your efforts but to keep consistency. One of the best ways to learn or improve anything is by building habits that very much apply to practicing mindfulness. If you’re struggling to find a way to integrate mindful thinking into your routine, here are a few examples of my own.
Instead of listening to the radio on your commute home, speak out loud and run through the events of that day.
Keep a notebook of “grievances” where you can write down and remember things that bothered you. This is especially great for recognizing patterns or recurring issues.
In your daily downtime (such as brushing your teeth, having breakfast, etc.), spend time communicating with yourself.
While these examples are not guaranteed to work for everyone, they are a great starting place. As mentioned before, the other part of assuring results is patience. If you start to try a few things that don’t quite feel right, don’t worry about changing things up and trying something different! Everyone is different and something that might help you may worsen someone else.
3. Romanticise your world
Once you have found the source and reasons for your stress, now it is time to start taking some steps to improve. My initial advice is to create a change in your routine and environment and make space for new experiences in your life. How you handle that is completely up to you and what you think might work for you, but if you feel completely lost, I’ll share a few of my ideas.
Take yourself on adventures! Go on hikes, explore a nearby park, or out for a meal. This is a great way to break the mundane day-to-day.
Rekindle old connections – maybe you lost touch with a few friends as you grew apart or you had an old ex you never really got over. Socializing is one of the easiest ways to relax.
Explore new hobbies – take up photography, start painting models, learn an instrument. All of these are great ways to explore something new.
As with my previous tips, it’s important to try different things and find the thing(s) that really work for you. It’s perfectly fine if you don’t get it at first, what matters is that you do eventually. It’s great to recognize the source of your stress but if you change nothing in your life, you can’t expect your mindscape to change either.
4. Look after your needs
While this should come with common sense, it’s important to highlight the crucial factor that bodily needs play in your mental well-being. After all, looking after your well-being is a two-sided ordeal: you need to be well mentally and looked after physically. Both sides need to be cared for otherwise neither can flourish, so let me share some of the most important things to keep in mind.
Stay well rested – Sleep is one of the most important things as it directly affects both mental and physical well-being as well as affecting your mood.
Eat well and plenty – Eating enough is not actually enough. It’s crucial to vary your diet and not consume too many trash foods as this can also directly affect your mood, and mental and physical well-being.
Stay clean – It has been scientifically proven that you feel much better and refreshed if you stay on top of your hygiene. You will also feel much better and more confident about yourself when you smell and look good.
And that about does it! If you keep on top of these tips and build them into your daily routine, you are already well on your way to peace of mind and a life without overwhelming stress. Remember, routine and consistency is the most important part in building life-changing habits.
5. Extra Ideas
While I outlined everything important to keep in mind to make sure that you improve your mindset, there’s certainly a whole different side to self-improvement which I feel doesn’t exactly get the attention that it should. When it comes to self-help and mental improvement, it’s key to understand that different sorts of things work for different people. For example, as a Belfast resident myself, I have found myself exploring the city in all sorts of ways, looking for a cure to my stress until I have met Nika, a Belfast escort.
For me, I know that my quest is over. I booked her for a GFE overnight and realized that the best way to relieve my stress was through spending some quality time with an incredibly hot girl.
The point I’m making is that the key to fixing your stress-related issues could literally be anything, so don’t be afraid to explore your options and try something new.
