Use these methods to eliminate your stress

Life is more stressful these days and we could all benefit from some stress-reduction techniques.

According to The Global Organization for Stress, 75% of Americans reported moderate to high levels of stress in the last month.

According to The American Institute of Stress, 33% of Americans report feeling extreme stress, 77% said it affects their physical health, and 73% said it affects their mental health. 48% say it affects their ability to sleep.

There are many things we can do to help relieve stress, but often what works for one person won’t work for another.

For this article, I’ve decided to take a look at what worked for some of the writers on this platform. Their tips turn out to be a little different from the general advice you tend to read elsewhere, so this could benefit many of the readers here.

Embrace Minimalism

This is what worked personally for me. I have estimated that living a more minimalist lifestyle has reduced my stress by around 85% over the years. This isn’t something that will happen overnight, but it can make a difference.

What I found was that it was possessions that caused most of the stress in my life.

Now that I live with fewer of them, they can’t cause any stress. One of the major stressors for me was owning a car. Living in central London means that parking is a nightmare. Even with a resident’s parking permit it sometimes took me 20–30 minutes to find a parking space. Not to mention the stress of paying for car tax, insurance, and repairs.

I also deleted almost all of my social media accounts. The relief from that alone was massive.

You can read my article below.

This One Thing Got Rid Of 85% Of The Stress In My Life

Ditch Your Job

Susie Kearley did even better than I did and managed to get rid of 90% of her stress by ditching her job and becoming a freelance writer.

Setting up on your own can be stressful to start with, but it also gets rid of a whole host of stresses. Becoming self-employed gave her “freedom, choices, and got me away from all the corporate bullshit and pointless meetings that were swallowing up time and achieving nothing”.

I used to have a job in the IT industry that I enjoyed, but it still had stressful aspects like commuting and pointless meetings. When I left for good there was a sense of relief that I no longer had to do those things.

Optimize Your Days

This piece of advice comes from the top writer on this platform, Tim Denning. I would describe Tim’s overall advice as optimizing your days so that stress can’t gain a foothold.

As you would expect, he has some fantastic tips that anyone can follow.

Starting your day in a good way will set your day up nicely. As soon as you get up, drink a glass of water, move your body for 10 minutes, and have a good breakfast.

Other tips include not overworking, taking a daytime nap, leaving your phone at home or in another room, de-stressing with 30 minutes of TV, taking in some sun, and going for walks.

Use Simple Cognitive Behavioral Techniques (CBT)

This tip is from Elizabeth Dawber who used this technique to create a positive mindset and cut her working hours by half in just 6 weeks.

Fewer work hours for the same pay. I like it.

Elizabeth experimented with various time-management and productivity techniques, but none of them worked very well for her, despite them working well for other people.

This shows how important it is to find what works for you. Don’t just blindly follow what others say, but experiment until you find what works for you.

It was after this that Elizabeth did some research and identified CBT as something that could work for her. It’s a more structured approach than the other methods mentioned above. This kind of approach works well for many people.

Take a look at her article for a more in-depth look at this method.

What’s Best For You?

My suggestion would be to have a read of all the above and see what resonates with you. I’d also advise experimenting with different methods. It will take longer, but you’ll likely get better results.

Financial Stress

The article below on reducing stress caused by the current economic turmoil should also help you.

Financial Lockdown is Coming — Are You Prepared? 5 Actionable Steps You Can Take Today