Advanced Life Skills

100 Ways to Overcome Stress

Stress comes in many forms and enters our lives through a multitude of channels. How can we deal with such a pervasive force?

Clearly, there is no singular solution to such a complex issue, but there are simple steps that work well in the war against stress.

Every single day dozens of people come to looking for ways to overcome or counteract the stress they are experiencing. I hope this helps!

100 of my favorite stress busters

1. Forgive yourself for every mistake you’ve ever made.

2. Forgive others for their offenses against you.

3. Stop obsessing over things you can’t control.

4. Take breaks often to clear you mind.

5. Do one thing at a time.

6. Stop over analyzing and start doing.

7. Stop judging what others do or don’t do.

8. Learn to say no and really mean it.

9. Only add to your “to do” list after crossing 2 things off.

10. When you buy something new, get rid of something old.

11. Give yourself some sincere approval.

12. Stop being a perfectionist and move on.

13. Let go of trying to control everything.

14. Don’t get emotionally invested in every little thing.

15. Quit agonizing over decisions you’ve made. It’s a done deal.

16. Remember that almost everything is temporary.

17. Ask yourself: Will it matter in 3 years? If not, let it go.

18. Find reasons to laugh out loud several times a day.

19. Stop taking things personally, it’s not always about you!

20. Use Touchstone Triggering to enhance the positive.

21. Don’t compare yourself to others. Life is not a contest.

22. Smile at everyone!

23. Start every conversation with a positive thought.

24. Don’t worry about things that haven’t happened yet.

25. Quit reacting like everything is an emergency.

26. Exercise every single day!

27. Don’t trade sleep for work.

28. Eat for nourishment not for comfort.

29. Express gratitude for the small things you appreciate.

30. Choose walking over driving whenever possible.

31. Do things that connect you with the earth.

32. Put up a bird feeder and become a bird watcher.

33. Don’t watch the news, especially when you are eating.

34. Listen to music that calms your soul and carries you away.

35. Get an answering machine or service.

36. Alarm clocks are rude, learn to wake up naturally.

37. Go to the beach or river and soak up the negative ions.

38. Do something nice just for you every single day.

39. Do something nice for someone else every single day.

40. Tell the people you love how you feel daily.

41. Count your blessings every morning and every night.

42. Eliminate unnecessary commitments.

43. Don’t allow others to make you feel pressured.

44. Stop creating unnecessary drama in your life.

45. Take 10 slow, deep breaths every hour on the hour.

46. Help others whenever it is within your power to do so.

47. Consciously relax every muscle in your body at bed time.

48. Turn off the “problem solver” 2 hours before bed time.

49. As soon as you wake up, do a gratitude review.

50. Play with your children or pets every day.

51. Laugh at yourself.

52. Be early for everything so you don’t feel rushed.

53. Make peace of mind a high priority in your life.

54. Find ways to express your creativity regularly.

55. Do an hourly brain dump for 30 seconds. Let it all go.

56. Hang out with happy, light hearted people.

57. Never complain. If something bothers you take action.

58. Don’t use words like stressed out, worried, or pressured.

59. Never rush through a meal. Savor every bite.

60. Maintain you energy levels and you will stress less.

61. Reduce spending and work toward being debt free.

62. Lighten your material load. More stuff = more stress!

63. Practice unplugging from the electronic world.

64. Read for pleasure and relaxation.

65. Exchange massages with someone.

66. Inhale calm, exhale tension.

67. Identify and eliminate energy drains.

68. Don’t flog your adrenals with more coffee, get some rest.

69. Actively interact with positive people as much as you can.

70. If it’s not your problem get out of the way (like tailgaters).

71. Get a hobby that completely captures your focus.

72. Never respond to or repeat gossip, it will backfire.

73. Only project positive thoughts into your future.

74. Be realistic with the demands you put on yourself.

75. Take care of your health, 90% of illness is stress related.

76. Don’t over focus on potential (imaginary) problems.

77. Maintain an optimistic perspective.

78. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

79. Be reasonable about scheduling your time.

80. Accept that everything takes longer than you think.

81. Use applied focus sessions to create more free time.

82. Stop trying to do everything yourself. Get some help.

83. Never argue with ignorance it will only frustrate you.

84. Adopt a stress free attitude because it’s all perception.

85. Remember that negative life lessons have great value.

86. Counter stress with anti-stress actions like squeezing stress balls.

87. When you’re feeling down take time to help other people.

88. Get rid of anything or anyone that makes you miserable.

89. Control over expectation to avoid disappointment.

90. Remember; first come the fear then the blessing.

91. Don’t stress out trying to get everyone to agree with you.

92. Stay away from the negative what if syndrome.

93. Seize every opportunity to be encouraging to others.

94. Live in the present instead of longing for the past.

95. View challenges as opportunities to minimize stress.

96. Unchain Yourself from conventional thinking myths

97. Multitasking creates stress and lowers productivity, don’t do it.

98. Believe that if it doesn’t kill you it will make you stronger.

99. Harness the anti-stress Power of Your Emotional Vocabulary.

100. Life isn’t always fair but it is still a gift, practice gratitude.

Letting go of Stress

When stress continues over a sustained period of time it can have devastating results. Recognizing the value of eliminating stress doesn’t do us much good if we don’t have the right skills to actually do it.

So, use these stress management tips to help you lessen the effects of stressful situations and prevent the cumulative effects of stress from interfering with our ability to create the life we really want.

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Faheem