Ep #100 Managing Stress and Anxiety with Shirley Billson

The Happiness Project

Welcome to the 100th episode on The Happiness Project podcast. Well, today’s episode is more around managing Stress and anxiety with Shirley Billson. And we would all agree about how anxiety has kind of been a part of our daily lives. So how do we manage our stress? How do we take some control of our lives in this chaos and uncertainty? I am so sure that you have so many questions – like I mentioned earlier, feel free to get in touch with me. Let’s start a conversation! Most people experience stress and anxiety from time to time. Stress is any demand placed on your brain or physical body. People can report feeling stressed when multiple competing demands are placed on them. The feeling of being stressed can be triggered by an event that makes you feel frustrated or nervous. Anxiety is a feeling of fear, worry, or unease. It can be a reaction to stress, or it can occur in people who are unable to identify significant stressors in their life. Stress and anxiety are not always bad. In the short term, they can help you overcome a challenge or dangerous situation. However, if stress and anxiety begin interfering with your daily life, it may indicate a more serious issue. If you are avoiding situations due to irrational fears, constantly worrying, or experiencing severe anxiety about a traumatic event weeks after it happened, it may be time to seek help. Learning to cope with stress can require some trial and error. What works for your best friend might not work for you. It’s important to build your own stress reduction toolkit so that you have more than one strategy to implement when stress kicks in. • Relaxation breathing: The single best thing you can do when under stress is to engage in deep breathing. Practice this strategy when you’re calm so that you know how to use it when you’re under pressure. Inhale for a count of four, hold for four, and exhale for four. Repeat. • Practice mindfulness: Sure, there’s an app for that, but the best way to practice mindfulness is to disconnect from your digital world and reconnect with your natural world for a specific period of time each day. Take a walk outside and use the opportunity to notice your surroundings using all of your senses. • Get moving: Daily exercise releases feel-good chemicals in your brain. Making exercise a daily habit can buffer you from negative reactions to stressful events. • Keep a journal: Writing down your best and worst of the day helps you sort through the obstacles and focus on what went right. It’s normal to experience ups and downs on any given day. • Get creative: There’s a reason adult coloring books are so popular – they work. Whether you’re drawing, coloring, writing poetry, or throwing paint on a wall, engaging in a creative hobby gives your mind a chance to relax. • Crank up the tunes: Listening to slow, relaxing music decreases your stress response (just as fast-paced music pumps you up for a run). Listen to the entire episode here - https://open.spotify.com/episode/1IBee8pkbfxMTF34w8e3FY?si=r-oqZhLxQZG8IOaXGvD45Q&dl_branch=1