National Stress Awareness Day 2022: 10 Ways to Live a Less-Stressed Life

National Stress Awareness Day is coming up on April 18, 2022! In preparation, we wanted to share 10 ways that you can live a less-stressed life. Whether you're dealing with work-related stress, family stress, or just general stressors in your life, these tips can help. Implementing some of these ideas may take a bit of effort, but they are all worth it, in the end, to help improve your mental health.

Top Ten Ways Manage Stress

Get enough sleep

Most adults need around eight hours of sleep per night. If you're not getting enough shut-eye, it can lead to increased stress levels. Make sure to get to bed at a reasonable hour and turn off electronics an hour before you sleep.

Exercise

Exercise is a great way to reduce stress and to live an overall healthy and positive life. It doesn't have to be anything too intense, even a brisk walk can help. Just get your body moving and your heart rate up for a bit!

Eat Healthy

Eating nutritious foods helps your body to function at its best. When you're feeling run down, it's harder to deal with stressors in your life. Make sure to include plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in your diet.

Take breaks

When you're feeling overwhelmed or stuck in a stressful situation, take a step back and take a break. Go for a walk, read your favorite book, or just take some time for yourself. It'll help you recharge and be better equipped to handle whatever stress comes your way. Learn to meditate! Deep breathing is a simple form of meditation and a great way to improve mental wellbeing. Practice taking a few moments on a day-to-day basis to pause and breathe!

Be organized

Having a plan and being organized can help reduce stress. Make to-do lists, keep a calendar, and set reminders for yourself. That way, you won't have to worry about forgetting something important. Getting organized is not just to reduce feeling stressed by to increase personal growth! What would you do with more time on your hands?

Say no

It's okay to say no sometimes! If you're already stretched thin, don't feel like you have to commit to anything else. Just politely decline and focus on taking care of yourself and your well-being. This applies to both personal and professional lives.

Delegate

If you're trying to do everything yourself, it's going to be tough – and stressful! If possible, delegate tasks to others who can help out. That way, you can focus on the things that are most important to you.

Set boundaries

Along the same lines, it's important to set boundaries with others. Let them know what you're comfortable with and what your limits are. That way, you won't end up feeling overwhelmed or taken advantage of. Whether it is with a friend or a family member, sometimes you just need to set boundaries to help with anxiety and stress.

Simplify

Sometimes, the best way to reduce stress is to simplify your life. If there are things that you can eliminate from your schedule or life in general, do it! You'll feel much better without the extra weight on your shoulders.

Set Realistic Goals

Part of simplifying your life is setting realistic goals. If you're constantly putting pressure on yourself to achieve unrealistic goals, it's going to lead to stress. Set goals that you know you can reasonably achieve and be proud of yourself when you reach them!

We hope these tips help you in living a less-stressed life! Remember, make sure to take some time for yourself and de-stress!

Personal reflection: It's OK if you aren't perfect.

Exhaustion.  Complete and total exhaustion.  That’s what I feel presently.  It’s difficult to wear so many hats constantly.  There are times where I simply don’t get everything done that I had intended, and I’ve learned to accept that’s OK.  It’s been hard to accept that at times, but it really is OK.  Even when I’m at maximum production, sometimes life happens and knocks you back a step or two.  When I’m feeling defeated, I must remind myself that I’m making great progress and have come pretty far from where I started. There are only so many hours in each day, and I feel that I have found a way to multi-task as much as possible to take advantage for every one of those hours.  To be clear, when I say multi-tasking, I have gone so far as to listen to podcasts or YouTube channels while I’m preparing dinner, working on orders, even taking a shower.  My hands might be busy, but I can still listen.  As a small business owner, taking on several roles, the materials I have found from podcasts and YouTube channels have been incredibly helpful.  I’ll take the risk of sounding quite old, but it really is amazing how much information is available online for FREE.

Some of you might be questioning, why let yourself get to the point of exhaustion??  Take a break!  Let it go! (Insert familiar song, singing, twirling and imaging snowflakes falling around you……. Ok brain, back to the topic at hand).  I do allow myself to take an evening off and from time to time, sometimes even a full Saturday or Sunday, but I have a goal that I want so badly.  Probably more than I have wanted anything, ever.  That goal is to have a successful business that will allow me to break free from “The Man”.  No, I don’t mean my husband, I would like for him to stick around.  I mean the 9-5 job where it seems no matter how much effort you put in, it’s the same sh*t, different day.

Because of the drive I’ve had over the last 18 months, my company is growing at what I consider a rapid pace.  I went from pretty much only making sales when I was set up at a local event, to daily sales.  I’m selling items as quickly as I can produce them and have now implemented pre-order sales with a current 3-5-week turnaround time.  Even though I’m attempting, words simply cannot express how happy this progress makes me.  Again, I’m not making millions, but I’m growing and learning so much at the same time.  I have money in my business account and can sit and look at a budget, make considerations on where my next investment should be made and finally run through ROI.  Yes, me a small business owner, is using terminology like ROI.  Some will roll their eyes at that comment, but I feel there are other entrepreneurs out there that will appreciate what I’m saying. 

I’m not a business major.  I don’t hold any IT certifications and yet I’ve been able to develop a website; cultivate a social media presence on multiple platforms; dive head first into becoming a blogger; push my creative abilities to the max, among many other areas that are required to carry my tiny little business.  It’s exhausting at times to work 14 to 16 hour days consistently, all while suffering from insomnia, but every order that goes out the door warms my heart and fills me with a great deal of excitement.  It’s true that you get what you put into something and I’m hoping that continues hold true.  I would love nothing more than for Frugal Fashionista to be my full-time job and perhaps even help other small business owners get on their feet and into a place of stability.  If you are an entrepreneur and would like to chat, feel free to email me and I’d be happy to share some of my failures and successes.  I’ll end my rant now, I guess I needed a release, and I’m finding that blogging may be a great outlet for that.  Until later, be safe and strive forward, you are awesome!