Your go-to strategy to make the most of this month
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Unclench your jaw and loosen your belly. If they were tight, you should probably read on!
Many of us are experiencing stress this month — let’s say it! Whether its financial, relationship-related, career-related, or all of the above, spring has brought about new stressors.
However, the root of the stress is not new — if we pay close attention, we’ll see that our stressors are exacerbations of situations we’ve already been wading through.
Take the looming government shutdown and mass sweep of layoffs for example. Doesn’t this shutdown remind you of the shutdown of the Obama era? The bureaucratic instability has long existed, and was never fully addressed.
While the issues we’re experiencing today are stressful, we can remember that every time a challenge comes up more forcefully, we’re given the opportunity to resolve it in a meaningful way, and ultimately experience wisdom.
Here are five strategies to alleviate stress throughout March.
1. Have defined “on” and “off” periods
Ensure that you have tight boundaries around when you problem-solve and when you recharge. Working endlessly into the night won’t help you this month. Having a defined “off” time keeps your mood elevated and mind thinking clearly enough to approach your challenge. After 7pm works great!
2. Prioritize and go head down
Smaller tasks, like making sure that email sequence is perfect or deep cleaning, are not the best use of your time during acute periods of stress. You’ve got larger fish to fry. It’s okay to crash out a little. Prioritize your biggest challenge, break it into chunks, and then go head down and forget the rest. Your coworkers and family will thank you later.
3. Lean heavily on your re-chargers
Think about what makes your heart soar. Is it music, community, drawing, or exercise? Intentionally elevating your mood with recharging time will assist your performance this month. You know what makes you feel whole and happy — you just haven’t made it a priority before. Identify your recharger and practice it more regularly. Use the pressure to crystalize your life into more joy — this is actually stress helping you in disguise.
We all know what legitimately lowers our moods, and that includes coffee, energy drinks, and social media. Stay away from these energy drainers.
4. Communicate your emotions
When things move quickly, emotions can go unexpressed, boil over, and explode. When we don’t communicate exactly what we’re feeling, our outer world doesn’t match our inner world. Your brain hates this. It wants consistency and congruency. If you’re annoyed that a coworker was late, communicate in a respectful and mature way. “I’m annoyed that you were late, but I’m happy we have this now. Thank you.” This creates a deeper authentic bond between the two of you, and makes it easier to communicate and thus work together in the future.
5. Celebrate whatever you can
As much as you worry this month, find a way to balance it with celebration. You don’t have to celebrate something you physically did. “I had a stressful day, and I survived it” is a perfectly appropriate celebration! “I was fired, and I got to spend more time with my children,” is another wonderful celebration. Celebrations reframe our stress response and point our attention to what’s worth enjoying.
March may be stressful, but we can reduce our stress by setting boundaries on work time, prioritizing tasks, recharging intentionally, communicating our emotions, and celebrating ourselves. When we do these things, we resource ourselves and give ourselves more energy.
March is giving us an opportunity to resolve deeper themes that have been begging for our attention. When we stay resourced, we can accomplish anything.
With love,
Reyna
Who am I? Hi! I’m Reyna Park.
I’m a biologist, stress relief coach, and medium. I can help you live with less stress. I can help you relax muscle tension. I can help you improve your intuition and speak with your spirit guides. Do you have questions about your future? I can help you with this as well.
You can contact me here to schedule a FREE 30-minute discovery call.
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3 Mindful Stress-Relief Tips for March was originally published in Mindful Mental Health on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.