Taking control.

Remaining passive, thinking there is nothing I can do about my situations, makes your stress worse. Remember, there is a solution to every problem. That feeling of being unable to control your life problems is a leading cause of stress and anxiety.

Taking control is empowering; it is part of finding the solutions to your problems. The solutions need to help you, not someone else. Identify and write down your options, choose the best option, and accept the outcome, even if it is not what you expected.

Socialising with people.

We all need a network of people to talk to, friends, family, colleagues. Talking to these people helps put a different perspective on things.  Socialising and connect with people gives us a network of people that can help us when low. We can do activities with them have fun and laugh, which will help us relax and relieve our stress.

Talking with our support network helps you find solutions to your issues.

Taking some time for yourself.

Having “ME time” is essential; working in the UK, we have the longest working hours in Europe. Therefore, we are unlikely to spend as much time on the things we enjoy. We all need to take time to relax, exercise, and socialise away from work. Organising two nights a week for yourself gives you a better chance of work and personal life balance.

Take on challenges.

It is a good idea to continue learning throughout your life.  This could be in work or outside, make them relatively challenging like learning a new language, new sport, or other hobbies. You will start to feel more confident, helping your stress.

Making continued learning part of your routine, you become more resilient and are less likely to sit and watch telly for hours; you are more likely to want to do things.

Be active.

Being active can also help your stress. This can be going to the gym for a workout, but it can also be gentle walks or a keep fit routine at home. Exercise helps take your mind off your worries, so you can deal with your situations calmly.

Healthy diet and habits.

Drinking alcohol or caffeine, and smoking is not good for you, they are just ways of coping and avoiding the problems.

Men are more likely to use these to relieve their symptoms temporarily than women. Women are far more likely to talk to their friends.

You need to find the cause of the problems causing your stress.

Help others.

It has been proven that “volunteering” and community work makes us happier and more resilient.

By helping people whose situations may be worse than your own, helps you put yours into perspective. If you have a busy schedule and cannot commit to volunteering for a group, look for ways to do someone a favour daily.  These can be little things, holding the door open, treating someone to a coffee.

Work smarter, not harder.

Prioritising your day and workload, complete the tasks that will make a difference first.

You may need to accept your email inbox or your in-tray will not be empty at the end of the day, taking away the pressure of clearing all your tasks, can make you feel less stressed.  Having regular breaks, even for five minutes to take some deep breaths, you will be amazed how shallow you breathe when under pressure. You will then be able to focus more.

Be positive.

Appreciate what you have, be the glass half full person. Look for the good in people and life, find those “silver linings”.

Write down three things you are grateful for or went well for you each evening.

Accept what you cannot change.

Situations in your life are not always possible to change. Putting all your focus on these will not help your stress or anxiety. Look at ways of changing the things you can control.

How many of us complain about the weather, we cannot change it; therefore, we have to accept it, either cancel our plans or make the most of them in the rain. Getting stressed and continuing to moan about it does not help anyone.

The other thing to remember is you cannot change people, you can only change your reaction to them or your perspective.