Good stress is motivates, bad stress kills.
Said by my mentor, who truly helped me to manage my emotions and remain calm under pressure. Stress is directly linked to performance, and it not only impacts work results but also affects personal life.
Find from my experience; sometimes stress makes me become another person, sensitive, impatient, and occasionally sleepless. Also, it makes me run after all the tasks forgetting the priorities in life: health, family, and being myself.
Stress has a funny way of sneaking up on you unnoticeably until one day you are shocked at how long since the last time you listened to a piece of music, watched your favorite show, or played an instrument you used to enjoy.
Some bad work habits, such as working after hours or checking work email on personal phone, can even magnify your stress, rather than alleviate it. We all need to shift our gears sometime, and focus on relaxing and rejuvenating activities after work. Here I like to share some of the good ones that quickly recharge me and bring me back to the full-hp stage!
#1: Exercise
No time to exercise during the week? You have 48 hours every weekend to make it happen. Getting your body moving for as little as 10 minutes releases GABA, a soothing neurotransmitter that reduces stress. Exercise is also a great way to come up with new ideas. Innovators and other successful people know that being outdoors often sparks creativity.
#2: Music
Listen to some meditation and relaxing music. Music is effective for relaxation and stress management. Research confirms these personal experiences with music. Current findings indicate that music around 60 beats per minute can cause the brain to synchronize with the beat causing alpha brainwaves (frequencies from 8–14 hertz or cycles per second).
#3: Disconnect
Disconnecting is the most important strategy, because if you can’t find a way to remove yourself electronically from your work, then you’ve never really left work. Once you closed your laptop, just call that a day, put your phone away: think about the old days when we all have no cell phones.
#4: Pursue A Passion
You might be surprised what happens when you pursue something you’re passionate about during your time off. Indulging your passions is a great way to escape stress and to open your mind to new ways of thinking. Things like playing music, reading, writing, painting, or even playing catch with your kids can help stimulate different modes of thought that can reap huge dividends over the coming week.
#5: Spend Quality Time With Family and Pets
Spending quality time with your family is essential if you want to recharge and relax. Weekdays are so hectic that the entire week can fly by with little quality family time. Don’t let this bleed into your weekends. Take your kids to the park, take your spouse to his or her favorite restaurant, and go visit your parents. You’ll be glad you did.
#6: Schedule Micro-Adventures: Have something good to anticipate
Buy tickets to a concert or play, or get reservations for that cool new hotel that just opened downtown. Instead of running on a treadmill, plan a hike. Try something you haven’t done before or perhaps something you haven’t done in a long time. Studies show that anticipating something good to come is a significant part of what makes the activity pleasurable. Knowing that you have something interesting planned for Saturday will not only be fun come Saturday, but it will significantly improve your mood throughout the week.
#7: Wake Up At The Same Time
Waking at the same time every day will actually help you to sleep better at night. A fixed wake time helps to build a strong desire for sleep throughout wakefulness. This sleep drive gradually builds, and shortening it by sleeping in will make it harder to fall asleep the next night.
#8: Prepare For The Upcoming Week
Friday afternoon or weekend is a great time to spend a few moments planning your upcoming week. As little as 30 minutes of planning can yield significant gains in productivity and reduced stress. The week feels a lot more manageable when you go into it with a plan because all you have to focus on is execution.
Lastly, be confident, be yourself, and stress should be a powerful driving force, not an obstacle!
