New Year, New Stress? Make A Resolution
New Year’s Resolutions are all too regularly made on January 1st and broken before the end of the month is even in sight. What prevents resolution success? A lack of specific, realistically achievable goals. Sometimes, it’s even simply an idea that would work wonderfully at the other end of the year, but in winter it simply won’t get off the ground. Try taking up running in summer, and you’ll get into it easier than if you’re trying to run in your shorts in the freezing cold.
Perhaps this year, you’ll have a little more success. My personal new year’s resolution is to reduce the amount of stress in my life. And when you think about it, stress is often at the root of many of the typical resolutions people make and the outlook that makes those resolutions fail. Stress has been linked to weight gain, but it can also be the reason why you can’t find enough time to ‘spend more time with the family’, or it may fuel a smoking or drinking habit. With that in mind, how would you go about making a stress related New Year’s Resolution?
Recognising Stress In Your Life
Stress is such a prevalent thing in our society that identifying it is actually rather easier said than done. Even when identified, it’s all too easy to dismiss ‘stress’ as the natural consequence of whatever it is you’re currently tasked with doing: yes, stress is natural, but too much of it has a chronic effect on your daily functioning. Work related stress happens to varying degrees, often depending on a person’s profession. It also happens to those not in employment, and even to young children. But it’s a part of everybody’s life, and it may manifest itself in:
- Headaches;
- Trouble Sleeping;
- Short Temper;
- Stomach upsets;
- Troubles with concentration;
- Dissatisfaction with you job.
Left unchecked, stress can cause you to frequently become ill, to be unable of functioning in your professional and private life.
Fighting Stress in Your New Year
If you have acknowledged the stress in your life, how do you combat it? Try these pointers:
- Get More Sleep. Ok, so we’ve already identified that sleep can be a result of stress, but oftentimes it part of a downhill spiral. Some people won’t sleep because they’re simply not trying to – they’re tired because you don’t want to sleep, and that’s the first habit to break. For others, they may have to fall back on sleeping pills, but only as a last resort: its far more healthy to simply develop a stress-less ‘buffer zone’ between work and sleep;
- De-clutter. A tidy desk (or home) is the sign of a tidy mind, and whether or not you buy into Feng Shui-style theories about positive energies, being able to find everything you need tidied away where it should be shaves stressful seconds off of your daily life;
- Taking a short break: you cannot rely on a full-blown yoga session every time you feel stressed. Take a five minute comfort break and try to get away from your desk if you do!
- Do something more indulgent! Run a bubble bath, go on a holiday or ask for Spa gift vouchers for Christmas.
- Stop taking your work home: whether you’re insisting on finishing a piece of work in your own time, or you’re simply bringing home a feeling of discontentment past the revolving doors, you’re letting stress into your private life. Learn to suppress the negative feelings and leave them for tomorrow, and explain to your superiors why you’re having to finish work the next day.
- Exercise more: There’s no need to start training for a marathon, but walk more, even if that just means taking your lunchtime chat for a stroll into town.
Anna Freshwater writes content for the Sanctuary Spa, who’re currently knee deep in the Christmas rush and a great place to buy a gift for pregnant friend.
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