It was 12.10 am, my mother pulled me out from the tensed workspace of my bedroom to the living room. The room was dark and the sudden loud choruses, “Surpriiiiiseeee!” shocked me in a good way. It was my birthday.
While I was expecting a surprise from my best friends, before I could let the joy of surprise seep in, someone pushed me by my neck and buried my joyous face into a cake. Now, this was a surprise indeed!
For that first hour of my 26th birthday, I left my constant companion ‘worry’ on the work table and enjoyed the presence of my friends after a long time in my ‘busy’ life.
However, once the lovely crowd left my house, the stress and fear of facing my boss the next day with the sales figure took over me.
This is not just my story, but the majority of us tend to let stress rob away the precious moments, days, and years from our lives.
Want to get rid of the worrisome devils those do no let us live?
Here are 4 ways for a stress-free life immediately:
1. Live in the Moment
Without sounding very philosophical, I just want you to understand that following this tip guarantees 100% relief from stress. You would ask, ‘Do I need to attend a Satsang by some famous guru to do that?’
While that might work for many, but to quickly apply what I am trying to say, Follow this simple tip which I call ‘Rubber back technique’. It brings you back to the present moment, hence the name.
Simply tie a rubber band on your wrist, and pull it to smack your skin every time you feel that your thoughts are hovering in the past or future thoughts.
Now, this might sound silly, but what’s the harm in giving it a shot? Initially, it is difficult to even remember that the band has to be pulled.
The first few days require conscious efforts to focus your thoughts on the moment. But with practice, the rubber band becomes a reminder to live in the moment.
In a few days, the rubber band would help you differentiate between useful and unwanted thoughts.
When you get rid of unwanted thoughts, stress gradually leaves your life.
2. Spend some Time with Your Loved Ones.
Our lives are filled with situations that demand us to become an imposter. Be it your workplace or even your personal lives.
Not getting a chance to speak your ideas out, or not behaving like the real ‘you’ without getting judged gains a good name for the imposter. But the real ‘YOU’ ends up suffering from an identity crisis.
Nevertheless, we all have that one person, with whom you can let your guards down.
Though leaving the comfort zone is essential for your growth, but to stay steady in the zone of uncomfortableness, your soul needs to be comforted by your confidant
These people come to your rescue when you drain yourself out. They cannot deviate the blows life hammers you with, but they can certainly suppress their impact on you.
Be it a Friend, Spouse, Boyfriend, Girlfriend, Parent, or simply your pet. Talk your worries out over a cup of soothing, warm coffee or a long drive with them.
Sometimes just a hug from your loved ones is enough to take away all your worries & keep you going.
3.Meditate
Ok! I agree, you might be feeling this to be preachy, but you don’t need to attend those long therapy/coaching sessions to learn meditation.
Follow these simple steps to calm your nerves down instantly and get rid of the energy-sucking leech called stress.
- Sit in a relaxing space. It can be your bedroom, your living room, the balcony, or simply a quiet corner of the house.
- Light an incense candle/ stick. Aromatherapy has proven to be an effective stress buster for ages.
- Sit down with folded legs on a flat surface, close your eyes and take 5 deep breaths. A deep breath is when your belly bulges out on inhaling.
- Try to focus on the sound of your breath. This will help you get rid of undesired thoughts.
- On the 6th breath chant a long and relaxing ‘Om’ while you exhale.
- Do this for another 10 breaths. With practice, slowly increase the number of chants.
- Once you want to end the session, rub your palms together to make them warm and place them on your eyelids.
- Very slowly open your eyes.
Certainly, you will feel calmer than before you closed your eyes.
Practising this before you start your day will work wonders for your energy levels.
4.Beat Procrastination
The most dangerous evil which accompanies stress is the widely famous habit of procrastination. According to various researches, 85% of the population worldwide suffers from some form of procrastination.
Pushing important tasks till deadline, postponing that phenomenal novel idea or simply procrastinating on exercising leads to the development of guilt in your mindset which takes away all the peace from your life.
No exercise can rid you of procrastination effectively. Procrastination can only be fought by the most powerful human ever — You. The weapon you need here is “Will power”.
I am personally still waging a war against this evil (This post was to be published a week ago). But I am slowly trying to overpower the devil.
I follow a simple trick. Let us take an example. Suppose, I want to work out for the day. The pain, sweat and breathlessness while exercising induced in the body puts me off. I follow these steps:
Step 1 — Start small
I simply start by standing up, stretching, walking and warming up. This sets the blood in motion and kicks in the dormant energy.
Step 2 — Break the task into doable steps, it reduces anxiety
Set a deadline and tie yourself. I break the entire exercise into single sets. One set at a time. Also, I make sure that I stick to the timeline for the sets.
Step 3 — Reward yourself
After every set, I reward myself with a sip of cold, flavoursome energy drink. It refreshes my body as well as my mindset.
Step 4 — Nearing the goal
Gradually with every set, I tell myself that in some more time it will be over. Finally, when the workout is over, the sense of accomplishment and positivity that seeps in is phenomenal.
What matters is your desire to defeat procrastination.
The more powerful your desire, the stronger your willpower.
So, get up and complete that important presentation, transform that phenomenal idea into a best seller novel, start exercising and become the best version of yourself. Remember,
Do it now or regret forever.
Don’t worry!
Your life in this world is short. Wasting time in worrying unnecessarily will reduce your life to a boring, excruciating, and tiresome routine ending on a hospital bed.
Once you’re done reading the post, you have to promise yourself that you would never let stress take away the spice of your life. If at all it does, then you have read the tips already. Work with them.
