4 Steps To Quickly De-Stress Your Day

We’ve all been there. We’ve all had an experience of overwhelm, a major cause of stress. Whether it’s at the office or at home, in our business life or our personal life, overwhelm is never a pleasant experience. Overwhelm and it’s counterpart, stress, are bad news for the best of us. Now here’s the good news. It’s actually very simple to quickly de-stress and release the overwhelm in four quick, easy steps. Breathe deeply, move your body, simplify your day, and focus on one thing at a time.

So here we go . . .

Step 1
Breathe deeply. Yes, it’s simple. And oh-so-very effective! Stop what you are doing and BREATHE. Deeply. Focus on filling your lungs completely, and then releasing your breath along with any and all tension or stress in your system. Almost as soon as you begin this lovely and much-overlooked activity, the overwhelm begins to diminish and the stress release begins. It’s tough for stress to maintain its residency when you take a conscious deep breath. A deep breath also causes you to expand your chest, and your shoulders automatically open. You begin to sit or stand (whichever the case may be) in stature. In other words, your spine elongates and your body expands. If you’re sensitive enough, you may feel the sensation of your cells tingling with oxygen and rejuvenation—a good sign of stress relief. You might even feel inclined to move other body parts, which brings us to . . .

Step 2
Move your body! Another very simple step, and yet it is so often overlooked when in the middle of overwhelm and stress. Simply stretching your arms out and up, gently rotating your neck, flexing your feet, or curling your toes are awesome stress relievers. You feel an influx of energy by moving in an opposing manner. For instance, if you’ve been sitting at your computer all morning, in a hunched-over position, you’ll get a nice recharge just by lifting your head to look up toward the ceiling, while opening your arms so that your shoulders rotate toward your back. In other words, do a mini back bend in your chair, as far as is comfortable and safe for you.

You could also get up and take a break by walking to get some water or a cup of tea. You could walk to the bathroom, or better yet, take a short walk outside. Even if you just get up from your chair or from what you were doing, turn around once, and then sit back down, it would do the trick of helping to release overwhelm. (Remember the Hokey Pokey?)

Step 3
Simplify your day. Yes, when overwhelm and stress set in, one thing is crystal clear—the universe is telling you to slow down and simplify. That means prioritizing your daily task for starters. Put everything on hold for a few minutes and focus on prioritizing.

One way to prioritize is to write down no more than three main tasks that you want to accomplish during the day. If it’s the end of the day, say around 6 pm, you might have only one main thing you want to accomplish, or even nothing more to accomplish! Give yourself permission to let go of the overwhelm and stress by cutting back on anything that isn’t one of the three (or less!) main tasks for the day. Reschedule appointments, re-prioritize duties and obligations, re-assess what is most important. You’ll know you’re on the right track when you breathe a sigh of relief and your stress and overwhelm start to melt away.

Once you have your priorities straight, you can turn your powerful ability of focus toward the first main task, which leads us straight to . . .

Step 4
Yes, you guessed it: Focus. Focus on one thing at a time. This is a big one. This one really needs an entire book written about it to do it justice. For now, though, I’ll just say that overwhelm happens when your focus is scattered and you invite too many things to do or to act upon in too short a time frame.

For starters, focus your attention on one thing, and one thing only, for, say, five minutes. Even if you have multiple piles on your desk, or lengthy to-do lists, focus on just the one thing. Let that one thing have your full attention. Don’t talk on the phone while you’re reading your e-mails. This slows down both tasks and perpetuates overwhelm and stress. I’m sure you can think of a few more situations where your focus is spread over several competing tasks. Stop it! Focus. Focus one just one thing at a time.

Make it your goal to finish that one thing before turning your focus to another thing, but don’t beat yourself up if that is impossible. For instance, when you’re attending to a child while making dinner, you have a situation that requires you to focus on two (or more) subjects in that you can never fully take your focus off of the child. But other than those very few exceptions, it is possible to truly focus on one thing at a time and even finish that one thing before moving on to the next task to focus upon. By doing this, the overwhelm goes out the door, and you have the added benefit of actually getting more done than if you multi-task. Yes, your ability focus is a powerful tool.

You are a powerful and creative being manifesting a life that eternally and naturally leans toward joy and ease. Overwhelm and stress are signs of a powerful being who is resisting the path of joy and ease (the path of least resistance). When you step back and truly take a look at where you are, it’s easy to take a deep breath, move your body to easily release tension and stress, simplify by prioritizing, and then focus on one thing at a time. And by allowing yourself a space to follow these four steps, you will quickly begin the journey of releasing overwhelm and walking your true successful path of joy and ease.

Kim Markison for Hypno-Freedom.com

Kim Markison is a Hypnotherapist, Life Coach and Intuitive dedicated to creating a more expansive reality in this world. She helps executives, entrepreneurs and other successful people to create their own expanded and abundant lives in joy and freedom. Kim can be reached at kim@hypno-freedom.com for more information and to schedule a free consultation.

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