It’s no secret to any of us that life can get extremely hectic in the blink of an eye. The start of school can often seem especially jarring after a summer filled with few timetables to follow and relatively relaxing days. When life gets so stressful that you feel like you’re on a roller coaster, that’s exactly the time when you need to slow down the most. Here are a few ideas to help you do that.
Meditate – There is no trick to meditation. There’s no right or wrong way to do it. If you really want some instruction, however, there are countless online videos for beginners that will guide you through a meditation practice. The key is to stay still, focus on your breath, and remain present. If you can commit to even 10 minutes of meditation each morning after you wake up, you’ll be amazed at how long you can keep that calmness throughout the day. And once you get into the habit of meditating each day, your overall stress will diminish significantly.
Exercise – You don’t have to start training to run a marathon to work exercise into your daily routine. A leisurely walk, a short bike ride, light yoga, or even body weight exercises are all great ways to work yourself into a habit of exercising. Even a few minutes spent exercising each day goes a long way toward reducing your stress and helping keep you present. And while this can often be the first casualty to your routine when you get especially busy, you can help prevent that from happening the more you make exercise a priority instead of an afterthought.
Leave Early – It sounds easier than it is, I know. But if you can be the timekeeper for the family, you can get them in the habit of leaving early and arriving early. Simply adjust your schedule to leave 5-10 minutes earlier than you actually need to. Get up a little earlier, get the kids up earlier, have breakfast ready earlier. Once you establish earlier as the new norm, everyone in the family will get used to the schedule you set. And you’ll be shocked by how much stress you will take off yourself if you aren’t driving frantically trying to get to school, or work, on time. This also makes your commute time a better time for quality conversations because you aren’t white-knuckling the steering wheel and desperately watching for speed traps.
Sip Slowly – Whether it’s your morning coffee or the water you drink throughout the day, take a moment to pause each time you take a drink and sip slowly. It might sound silly, but the act of sipping slowly will do wonders to remind you to slow down throughout the day. It will take you back to the present, force you to remember your breath, and help you reduce your heart rate.
Keeping a relatively relaxed routine isn’t easy, but it doesn’t have to be as difficult as most of us make it. By following these ideas, you will soon get in the habit of living a life with less stress. And less stress means more time enjoying life instead of simply racing through it.
