How To Protect Yourself From Stress

Are you ready to take control of your stress & overwhelm? Don’t wait for life to slow down - because it’s not going to. Start guarding your peace & well-being and stop letting stress dictate your life!

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How To Protect Yourself From Stress

What are the top 5 things you do to protect yourself from stress and overwhelm?

I love this question because the focus is on being proactive about your stress and overwhelm instead of letting things get so out of control you're reactively trying to figure out how to fix it after the fact.

If this is something you've been thinking about, I'm going to invite you – wait, I'm going to get a little more firm than that - I’m going to TELL YOU to stop waiting for things in your life to slow down before taking control.

You have stress EVERY DAY and there are things you need to have in place to protect you. Why leave yourself open to chaos?

And I'm going to challenge you to START NOW with a daily practice this week - because things are not going to get any easier.

To give you some ideas, these are the top 5 things I do on a regular basis to protect myself from stress and overwhelm…

1. Ugh. I have to work HARD to get good sleep – I’m not good at it. But when I don’t get good sleep I notice my workouts suck, I’m hungrier for crappy food, and I’m less patient (a lot less). We can all get by with less than ideal sleep, but research shows that poor sleep weakens our resilience.

2. Calendar boundaries. I protect my calendar in order to protect me. I don't open my calendar for meetings until 11:30 a.m. because mornings are my most focused, productive time. It's when I get the things done that I need to get done so I don’t feel stressed out and overwhelmed. It's also when I get my workout in. What works for me is focusing on myself and my needs in the morning, and then the rest of the day is when I can focus on other people and their needs.

3. I'm definitely an extrovert. I get energized by being with good people, having good conversations about things that really matter – it fills my soul. I’ve got a lot of high quality people in my life that are uplifting and inspiring to spend time with. I know they’ve got my back and I’ve got theirs.

4. There's a huge difference in how I feel the entire day, depending on how I start my morning. It's tempting to jump right into emails and start getting things done because part of my brain is telling me the more things I can get done, the less stress and overwhelm I’m going to have. But it ends up making me more reactive and more stressed. When I start my day with journaling it's a way for me to be calm, intentional, and focused on what's really important. And that mindset is magical…it stays with me for the rest of the day. And it only takes me about 5 minutes!

5. The last thing I do that protects me from stress and overwhelm are my workouts. Here’s my mindset: if I can handle the stress of that workout, I can handle the stress of anything. It gives me the strength and confidence to get through whatever is going to come my way! It's also my break in the day, my sense of community, and exercise is the #1 way to rid the body of stress hormones.

What's on your list?

Things are never going to slow down. They're never going to get any easier. So it’s crucial you have things to PROACTIVELY protect you from stress and overwhelm. TODAY.

If you want a little help figuring out what the 5 things might look like for you, check out this video.