Welcome back to the Do Life Big Podcast, I am so excited that you're here today! You know, I just feel like recently there's just been so much stress going on? I don't know about you, do you feel the same? Like - do you just feel like you've just been more stressed out recently than you typically are? I mean, I go through it, we all go through it. And I think it's really important that we take the time to acknowledge the stress, but then also learn how to change our state. So that way we can handle the stress and make better decisions in our day to day life. And so I mean, maybe you're someone like me, who has a three year old at home, who's slapping them across the face, or kicking them before bedtime, or they're just going through a really tough phase where they're throwing things across the house, it can make your days really stressful. And I know that that's pretty miniscule compared to so many other things that could be going on in your life. But you get the gist of what I'm trying to say.
So much more stress these days is happening, I feel due to just traumatic events happening or big life changes that are out of our control. And so we want to find ways to relieve that stress. Because no one wants to walk around feeling like garbage every single day. I mean, there's no way to avoid it, you're going to get stressed things are going to happen. But we need to learn how to cope with that and how to handle it so that we can take a step back and make more logical decisions. Because when you're stressed out, or your emotions are high, and you're in this really stressful situation, then your logic becomes really low. We don't want that. So if you feel stressed or anxious, let's look at what we can do to actually help ourselves.
I'm going to give my six BEST strategies of how you can actually REDUCE your stress! If you have stress going on in your life right now. I actually had to use one of these today when I was in the car earlier, believe it or not, I actually use these strategies all the time.
The first strategy is your breathing. All right, I want you to focus on your breathing. When you have a state change, the very first thing to change is your breathing. So I want you to think about when you're feeling really good and you're excited. Or imagine you're in your car driving around and you're listening to your favorite song. Think about how you feel in that moment. Your breathing is slower, it's more natural, you're feeling good, everything is just all good, because you're feeling great. But then you're in your car, and all of a sudden, someone tries to drive you off the road, and then pulls up next to you and yells even look like an F'ing idiot.
I'm using that as an example. Because that's actually a REAL life example that we had happen to myself and my husband. And they didn't say F and by the way, they actually said the real word, true story! But when something like that happens and somebody cuts you off, and then speaks to you that way, when you're in your car, you without even thinking about it, you just immediately hold your breath, and it becomes this much more shallow, faster paced breathing, and your heart rate goes up right like you were just so living instantly your state changed from that calm, relaxed, I'm feeling great. I'm listening to my favorite tunes in the car to like anger and stress and anxiety and your heart rate goes up and it completely changes your state changes. So to change our state from one of anxiety and worry and stress, we need to change our breathing. And studies have actually shown that if you do six deep, intentional breaths, that it can change your state.
How you would do this is you would just say We go in through your nose as deep as you can. And then you would blow out through your mouth. And imagine that you are breathing out through a straw. And when you breathe out slowly, that actually slows your heart rate. And now, this shouldn't take you more than two minutes. So give it a try. But now after you do this, and you spend those two minutes, breathing in through your nose slowly and out through your mouth as if you're blowing out through a straw, now, we can make decisions from a more calm, centered, relaxed position versus a pissed off stressed out state. All right, so again, it's not going to change the stressful situation of what just happened. But it's going to center us and make it so that we can at least now make better decisions going forward. So that was strategy number one.
My second strategy is to focus on gratitude. Gratitude is the way to go. We hear it all the time and attitude of gratitude, because what you focus on grows. So think about what you're focusing on. If you're focusing on something that really stresses you out, then you're going to become more stressed out because you're thinking about it, and you're focusing on it. Focus on what you want, not on what you don't want. And then think in that moment. What can I be grateful for right now in my life, don't focus on what you don't have. Focus on what you do have, don't focus on what you used to have, but don't have any more. What do you have right now in front of you, that you can be grateful for now, I'm not saying to ignore the stress, right, or to not acknowledge it. But we need to get you out of that stressful mindset. So that way, you can make better decisions regarding that stressful situation you have going on in your life right now. stressful situations are going to happen all the time, I'm sure you're going through something like that right now yourself. But focusing on something really small, it doesn't have to be this majorly, it doesn't have to be this big, major thing that you're grateful for. It can be something super simple. Like I'm grateful the sun is shining today, because it's been raining the past few days, or I'm grateful that the temperature down here in Florida has cooled off because it's been so hot and humid for so long, little things like this. So find that thing, find that small something and allow that to help you change your state, gratitude will always change your state.
Strategy number three, is getting out and just going for a walk, put your body into motion, just 10 minutes, it's actually been proven that if you get yourself out there, put your body into forward motion for just 10 minutes without your phone. All right, it will lower your cortisol in your body. And cortisol is that stress hormone in your body. So if you're at home, and somebody really pisses you off, or you're at work, and something goes wrong, and you get annoyed with one of your co workers or your boss or whoever, step out, get out there and get moving for 10 minutes. And just watching the sun, feeling it beat down on your face, looking at the the trees or the sky or listening to the birds. Again, remember, you're not having your phone with you, you're paying attention to all of nature and all the sites out there, that will lower your cortisol levels and make you feel so much better. Then once the 10 minutes is up, you can come back and you can handle that stressful situation that you had going on, at home or at work in a much better state of mind.
Strategy number four, is to write everything down. So it's almost like therapeutic to just write everything down, not on your phone, not on the computer, but I'm talking get out a notebook, take out a piece of paper, get the pen or the pencil and get it out. And anything that you have going on in your head that's making you nervous or anxious, you need to just write it all out on paper. Because when you do this, and you physically get your thoughts or your worries down on the paper, a lot of times the solution to your problem, and to the stressful situation that you have going on isn't really as difficult as it appears to be when it's all just sitting there jumbled up in your head. Or in your mind. When you leave it there sitting in your brain, it's so hard to really think of a solution. Everything just seems gray and confusing. And there's no way out and I just feel so stuck like my back is up against the wall. It's kind of like if somebody were to give you this really hard math problem to solve, or some kind of intense multiplication problem to solve, and they told you to solve it in your head. If you tried to do it in your head. It would seem impossible, right? But as you start to actually get the piece of paper out and you start to write the problem down. Then you see that figuring it out. is actually possible and that you can work your way through it step by step a little at a time. So if you have a complex or real serious life problem going on right now, and you're trying to figure it all out in your head, forget about it hanging up is not going to happen, is just going to cause you to have actually even more stress, and make you feel even more overwhelmed and give you more anxiety. Take the time to sit down and write it all out. These things take time, but I'm telling you, it is worth it. And it will help you when something is on paper, then it can be planned and worked through. So write as much as you can down, don't judge yourself. Don't worry about anybody seeing it, you can rip it up after but get every single little thought and detail and feeling that you have about the stressful situation down on the paper. And for most people, just the mere fact of getting all that out of your head and onto paper relieves the stress right there. What causes more stress is actually trying to hold all of these serious complex problems of life in your head and never getting them out. You never want to bottle it all up. You never want to hold it all in. You've got to get it out. And so if you don't have somebody to talk to get it out on paper. All right.
The fifth strategy to help you reduce your stress is to laugh! Yep, I said it, find a way to laugh. Listen, I don't care how it happens. I feel like I spend most of my days laughing half the time I'm laughing at myself. It doesn't matter, right? This is just how I am. But whether you're watching just a 10 minute stand up comedy or some kind of funny show, whatever it is laughing releases dopamine, and dopamine lowers cortisol. And remember from what I was saying earlier, that cortisol is that stress hormone. Dopamine is what makes you feel good, it makes you feel happy. And it reduces that stress hormone. So you want to find ways to get laughter into your day to day life. So if you're stressed out, or you're in a really anxious state, and you're feeling really worried or nervous, go put on some comedy. All right, doesn't matter what it is, whatever is gonna make you laugh, no one's gonna judge you. Go ahead, put it on, call the friend, who can always make you laugh or put a smile on your face, whatever it is, but find something that makes you feel good, that's gonna get you laughing. It will help trust me.
The sixth strategy to help you reduce some stress that you have in your life is to put on a calm song, some kind of calm music. So when you're stressed out, or I mean, I'm even thinking about myself, when I'm stressed out and I'm driving in the car, I am very selective and picky with the music that I want to listen to. I definitely don't want to have any kind of Metallica or headbanging heavy metal going on in my car. Because when I'm stressed out, I mean, I don't like that stuff anyways, but it just makes me feel more stressed and more anxious. So I even have like a playlist on my phone called chill out. And it's literally just a bunch of songs that are kind of slower, and they're more mellow, and they just make me feel good. And they make me feel relaxed, and they make me feel calm. Find the song for you maybe even put a little playlist on your phone, of all the different songs that are calming, that make you feel more relaxed and chilled out. So that way, when you are stressed, you can just put that playlist on. And you can listen to those songs and instantly that will change your state. So find the song that's going to make you feel calm.
So that right there guys, those are the six strategies to relieve stress or anxiety in your life, you can't escape it, you're going to be stressed, things are going to happen, you're going to be anxious, but let's find ways to change our state. So that way we can go back to those stressful situations and we can be in a more clear mind to handle them. So those six strategies are number one, to focus on your breathing. Number two, focus on gratitude number three, get out there and go for just a 10 minute walk. Number four, write everything down that's in your head with pen on onto paper. Number five, find a way to laugh, get some comedy going in your life. And number six, put on a song that is going to calm you and make you feel relaxed and good. Listen, you don't need to do all these things, obviously, but you will realize that after practicing this and doing some of these that changing your state in the way that you feel is a lot more in your control than you may have thought. So I hope that this helped you today. Really appreciate you being here tuning in today. I hope you have an awesome day today. Keep crushing life. Remember you got this. And I love you guys.
Thanks so much for listening in. I really appreciate you choosing to spend your time here with me today and you totally rock! Hey, listen, if you love today's episode, go ahead and tag me on social and go share this with a friend right now. Like do it immediately. Well the day gets ahead of you and you totally forget. Couldn't be more pumped to be on this journey with you guys. Go make today awesome and I will see you the next time.
