At times we all feel overwhelmed and intensely frustrated as our world seemingly closes in on us with too many issues and problems and not enough of the good things. Here are some remedies to try right here and now:
1. Get up and move
Give yourself a ten-minute break and physically move from where you currently are to somewhere else, ideally it’s a short walk to get there and if possible outside so you can get some fresh air. The forward momentum of walking will help you to rebalance and re-energise your current thinking and mindset. A five or ten minute walk every hour to a change of scenery works wonders to reduce your stress. This is akin to the basketball coach calling time out to change the momentum of the game and reset the players mind on the task ahead.
2. Reward yourself every day and every month
Reward yourself every day with little rewards that offer you some respite from the stress and which you can look forward to after completing a goal, or at certain times of the day. These may be simply reading a chapter in a book, walking to the park or a coffee shop, listening to your favourite music, extra sleep at the end of the day, deep breathing (close your eyes and count slowly to ten) or just phoning a friend. With these highlights in the day you start the balance the bad stuff with some good.
Also set yourself a bigger reward sometime in the future, a holiday or mini break and visualise how good you are going to feel at that time. Just having this event on your calendar helps take your mind off the negative stress of the here and now and allows you to focus on the future positives.
3. Get to the heart of what is making you feel stressed
By taking control and focusing on what is making you feel stressed you can slowly lose your helplessness. Decide what you can and can’t control and then limit yourself to worrying about only what you can control. Everything else is just a distraction and a burden and you should cut it loose and let it float away like a spacecraft in outer space. Whilst this may not lessen the enormity of the situation, by getting back in control you feel less helpless and hopefully then less stressed. Also try and put the issue into perspective by asking yourself whether this will really matter in a week or a month or a year.
4. Make things happen to develop some forward momentum
If you are feeling becalmed then by taking control (as above) and getting things moving you begin to feel a sense of accomplishment. By splitting the one big problem into a series of little problems and tackling each one in turn you can begin to get back on top
5. WWW – what’s working well
Going to sleep stressed and overwhelmed is really unhealthy as your negative thoughts swirl around your head and most likely disrupt your sleep and compound your stress and negativity. Try and put whatever has happened during the day behind you and focus on getting yourself in a good place mentally and emotionally by the time it is bedtime. Use WWW “what’s working well” to identify the good things that are happening in your life so that you can go to sleep in a positive frame of mind and help you to wake up in one too.
Using one or all of the above tips will help you do develop and build your resilience and mental toughness. Mental toughness is the ability to perform consistently under stress and pressure and as such building your mental toughness will ultimately help you to reduce frustration and feeling overwhelmed. For more tips on building mental toughness visit our blog page.