Reducing Stress – Do Little Things to Make A Big Difference
Imagine a scenario that we are late for work or children late for school in morning. Our adrenaline and blood pressure level would be boosted high enough to get us irritable. Or if we are caught in a traffic jam or have to line up in a long queue, we usually get impatient. To reduce the inevitable daily stress, the most convenient and easy way is to do some simple and little things. Many little things have brought big differences in my life and my family. Here I share some below:
- Get things ready for the morning the night before. Here are our ideas: Take out the clothes we plan to wear and hang them in a handy place. Get food ready for lunch box, wash fruits, lettuce for sandwiches and use containers to keep them in fridge in the evening. It’s handy and quicker to put everything between the pieces of bread in the morning. Sometimes, I prepare dinner in double size, then I can leave some for lunch next day.
- Get up ten minutes earlier in the morning and decide not to “paste” our bodies on bed for the last minute. The inevitable morning mishaps will be less stressful.
- Give yourself allowance of time for expected events. Having lived in a heavily populated city for some time, I’ve learnt that if I am well prepared to wait, I’ll feel less stressful. No matter you go to a post office, a clinic, a bank, a restaurant, a shop, you have to prepare to wait. If we think it’s a waste of time, stress will be secretly built up inside. So bring something to read, to write, to plan or even to listen. Recently I’d like to bring my ipod, that’s a birthday present from my son and daughter. Wherever or whenever I wait, I can listen to some music that I like. It’s a great stress buster.
- Eliminate or reduce the amount of caffeine in your diet. The side effects of caffeine can lead to a number of physical and mental conditions, like restlessness, nervousness and increased blood pressure.
- Have a to-do-list. Trying to remember all things have to be done is a burden. We always forget some trivial but very important things. Just for example, if you promise your wife to buy salt on your way home and you forget, your dinner won’t be delicious as usual. To the worst, your night might be ruined. Stress will be built up, of course. The same thing is also true to a wife who forgets the little but important things.
- Get organized with the whole family. Organize your whole house is a big job and might be very stressful for you. Save this job in a long holiday. But returning things back where they belong is very simple, and you won’t have to go through the stress of losing things. We have a little white board on the wall in living room. Everyone in our family uses a different colour marker to jot down his/her to-do-things as reminders. I found it’s very handy and everyone will know what will happen in the week. It helps us reduce stress because of enough readiness.
- Don’t be a perfectionist because it’s too stressful to be one. At the end of the day, we are not able to finish all the things that we planned for. Be satisfied with what you have done and what are not perfectly done. I was told, “the world will not end if the grass doesn’t get mowed this weekend.”
- Learn to say “no”, or “wait” to some invitations you don’t want or enjoy. Have some quiet time to develop your healthy inner being.
Just a few little things that I experienced big changes in our family. You might have some more tips to share. Feel free to do so.