The tricky thing about stress is that it impacts the body’s ability to effectively do its job. For example, you might choose to eat a healthy lunch, but if you’re eating it while stressed (perhaps feeling like you don’t have time to eat and that you should be working), the body won’t be able to digest and absorb all of the amazing nutrients that you consumed. The same is true with exercise. If you workout from a place of feeling not good enough and like you need to fix yourself, you’ll build unnecessary tension, stay in fight-or-flight mode, and miss out on the awesome benefits of going to the gym in the first place. #StressAwarenessMonth
Here are a few tips for cultivating calm during the day:
🍎 Before eating, take a few deep breaths and give yourself this time just to eat.
🚲 While exercising, workout at 70% of your capacity, this will give you the spaciousness required to be mindful and take good care of your body.
✏ If you’re overwhelmed by what you have to do, find ways to respond to your workload rather than react to it. For example, write a list of everything that you have to do and then choose the most important thing to do and start there.
🙆♀️ Give yourself one minute stretch breaks to feel and honor your body.
😂 Bring a sense of humor and light-heartedness to the situation.
☺️ Bring a hint of a smile to your lips.
For more ways to decrease your stress levels, check out Calm’s Managing Stress Workbook (link in bio)