This week is mental awareness week and I wanted to write a post relating to this in some way, shape or form. Awareness of mental health is incredibly important in getting rid of the stigma around it. From what I’ve found with a little bit of research is that theme for this week is stress, information that I found on the Mental Health Foundation website which I’ve linked. This post isn’t affiliated or associated with them, but you can check out their website for more information if need be.
As the theme for the week is coping with stress I decided that this would be the perfect time to discuss this in a blog post and give you some tips on how to manage stress. Managing stress can be difficult, whatever the cause of your stress may be, and I’m no expert on managing stress, but I hope you find this post useful.
Self care
Self care is incredibly important and it can also help to minimise stress. Taking time out for yourself allows you to take a breather from whatever your main focus is on, whether that be exams, work, or anything of the sort. This can be something as simple as reading a book. I have a separate post on some simple self care tips which may also be useful!
A good night’s rest
Feeling refreshed is important to allow your mind to focus. Having a good night’s sleep is important as much as it’s important not to oversleep. Normally it’s recommeded that you have around 8 hours of sleep.
Take time to relax
It’s important to take some time out of your day to relax. Whether that’s taking a bath, listening to music, watching a film, going for a walk, or anything that you enjoy to do in your spare time. Whatever it is that helps you to relax it’s important to set aside time in your day for this activity.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness can also be a great way to manage your stress and relax. The whole point of mindfulness if to bring yourself into the present moment and to pay attention to your thoughts, surroundings, and so on. For this you can meditate, take part in yoga, etc. For meditation you can find youtube videos or can you find apps on your phone in order to help you out with this. There are various apps out there in the app stores such as: Calm, The Mindfulness App, and Headspace. Find one that suits you, you never know, it might just help you out! You could also get a mindfulness colouring book as this could be very therapeutic too.
Balance is key
Balancing your work life, personal life and possbile student life at the same time is incredibly important. The last that you want to do is overwork yourself, either with work or studying, and not have enough time to relax or spend time with friends/family. It will the stress and pressures of work/student life easier if you spread your time out well. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by something then try and take a step back or take things slower if possible.
Make time for friends/family
Making time for friends and family is also just as important as they are your support network. They’ll be able to help you to relax and make you feel better if you’re ever struggling. When you’re busy it may seem difficult to make time for them, but it’s important, otherwise you could end up feeling isolated. You’ll be able to use each other to talk about your struggles that you may be facing or anything that you’re worried about. Talking through things can be a big relief for you and they may be able to help you through the situation.
Here are some sites/organisations that you may find useful to take a look at:
Do you have any tips that you find useful for managing stress? Comment them down below for others to check out!
Ashleigh
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Very nice of you to share it 😊👍
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Such great points, and very important message! Having people to talk to makes a huge difference to mental health.Brilliant post lovely x
Alys
https://alysjournals.com
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Very interesting!
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You’ve made some fantastic points here that I’m sure would definitely help people! I should listen to a few of these points myself tbh! thank you girly
Ashleigh x x x
http://www.thestoryofashleighdavis.com
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There are some really valid points here, I feel like I could be better at self-care, especially knowing when to step back and spend time with family/friends x
http://www.sheintheknow.co.uk
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Great tips!!! Thanks for sharing ❤
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Hi all. This is great. I found Mindfulness is a great tool and for me swimming. Swimming is great as it is works all the body, unknotting all those tense muscles and the counting of the strokes calms the mind. Please read my article on Anxiety https://litonline.co/2018/05/16/i/ . I hope this helps someone out there like this blog has.
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You had me at the Harry Potter colouring book! These are some really good tips, I really agree with the mindfulness one. Bringing yourself fully into the present moment can help you to stop stressing about things in the past or future 🙂
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Such great idea! Love this post. Thank you for sharing lovely xx
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Thanks for reading lovely! xx
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Great tips 🙂
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All good practical points! thanks for sharing!
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I have recently tried to be more mindful which i am finding really helpful and is reducing my stress levels.Great tips xx
http://lifeofellabella.blogspot.com/2018/10/travel-my-goals-and-my-fears.html
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It’s definitely useful! Thank you xx
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So so important x
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