Stress is part of our lives. Some stress is healthy, but too much is harmful. It hurts us mentally, emotionally, and physically.

I’m not going to go into all the science of stress and what’s happening inside our bodies. That gets boring, and I know you don’t want boring.

Instead, I’m going to validate why you’re suffering from stress, and give you seventy-five practical solutions you can do right now to reduce it.

During the current pandemic, the job losses, and restrictions on social interactions, have driven stress to an all-time high.

With the social unrest, and now the stressful uncertainties surrounding how to do school, add in the other stressful things happening around the globe—the stress is overwhelming.

Simply put, there is trauma in the air.

What are we to do?

We can’t get rid of the circumstances that surround us, driving the stress. However, we can take action to reduce stress, as well as the anxiety and depression it causes.

Doing any of the following seventy-five things will help lower your stress and anxiety, and will boost your immune system. These two results will help you to be both healthier and happier in the midst of this troubled time.

Check out the seventy-five stress reducers and pick just five to do now and see the results in your life.

SEVENTY FIVE THINGS YOU CAN DO

• Listen to music
• Go for a walk
• Do some gardening
• Meditation – there are many ways to do this (link below)
• Clean something
• Rearrange furniture
• Journal your feelings and thoughts

• Take a hot shower
• Play a game
• Look into CBD and take what serves you (I know someone – link below)
• Take a hot bath with essential oils
• Go for a bike ride
• Chat with a friend on the phone

• Give blood to help save a life
• Slowly sip one shot of whiskey
• Take a drive in the country
• Make something – a craft
• Take a walk on the beach – ocean or lake
• Read a book

• Go people watching at a park or outdoor mall
• Take some of your garden produce to a neighbor
• Knit or crochet something
• Dance
• Put together a puzzle

• Do something for someone else – act of kindness (link below)
• Write out your painful emotions on paper and then shred or burn them
• Watch a movie with someone on zoom
• Write a letter or note and send it snail mail to someone
• Play a game with someone on the Houseparty app
• Watch funny videos and laugh
• Ground yourself by walking barefoot through the grass paying attention to how it feels

• Color with chalk on the sidewalk
• Wash your car
• Take a walk in the woods
• Lay on the ground and stare at the clouds imagining them in shapes
• Draw
• Write a short fiction story where you or your character solves all the world’s problems
• Speak positive affirmations to yourself and over your life
• Pray
• Worship God
• Read Bible verses
• Blow bubbles and watch them fly away

• Bake cookies and give them away
• Read jokes and share them with others
• Organize a drawer or closet
• Cook something new
• Paint
• Do some calisthenics
• Take a nap
• Lift weights / hand weights

• Get a massage
• Eat an orange – the smell of citrus is uplifting and vitamin C is a boost as well
• Walk a dog
• Do a social media fast
• Eat an avocado (yay for guacamole) – it helps lower blood pressure due to its rich potassium content
• Enjoy intimacy with your spouse (yes – sex) – it releases oxytocin aka the love hormone
• Make a gratitude list
• Do a chocolate meditation (yes it’s a thing – link below)

• Eat some apricots – rich in magnesium (a stress buster and natural muscle relaxant)
• Turn off your phone for a set amount of time
• Chew gum – it reduces cortisol (the stress hormone)
• Listen to the water sounds of nature – waves, gentle rain, river, waterfall…
• Cry – release tension
• Get a stress ball of some kind
• Do yoga or TaiChi
• Give acupuncture a try
• Curl up in a weighted blanket
• Listen to soothing nature sounds – crickets at night, frogs croaking, birds, forest…
• Try aromatherapy and see what works for you
• 
• See a therapist or coach (link below)
• Start a new hobby
• Make funny faces at yourself in the mirror until you crack up
• Take a deep breath and let out a big sigh
• Color in a coloring book
• Intentional body relaxation – close your eyes, lower your shoulders and gently roll your head from one side to the other a few times. Finish with a deep cleansing breath.

WHAT NOW

Let me know in the comments which five you chose OR give me some more suggestions!

Here are the links I told you about

• Chocolate meditation
• Meditation – how to
• Meditation – benefits
• Meditation when it’s difficult
• Do something for someone
• Coaching

Danielle Bernock

Author, Coach, and Speaker helping men, women, and organizations EMERGE with clear vision of their value, TAKE ownership of their choices, and CHART a path to their promise, becoming Victorious Souls who Embrace The Change from survive to thrive through the power of the love of God

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