A lot of people are going through tough times right now. These are indeed stressful times. Statistics have shown an increase in number of people needing mental help. Stress not only affects us mentally and emotionally, but it also affects us physically causing unhealth and sickness. This is why I want to share with you the tips from the 7 Day Eliminate Stress Challenge that we had in our facebook group, TEAM TRANS4M. I invite you to join us and be part of our community and we can all get healthy and stay healthy together. Check out other tips and challenges that we shared in the group.
Day 1- Express Gratitude
Experts have been teaching this to help people get in a better mindset or frame of mind. You can do so by bringing to mind something you are grateful for. I do this every morning to start my day. To take it a step further, I write this down. This is called journaling. This has done wonders to eliminate stress. So instead of checking your social media or emails when you wake up, I encourage you to try this.
Day 2- Saying I’m Sorry, Forgiving
A lot of times, the way we think right now is because of past experiences or past traumas. It holds us hostage. It is like a chain that prevents us from moving forward, from being better, being happier, being more positive. Forgiving breaks that chain. It allows you to break free from your past or whatever it is that is preventing you from moving forward, being positive, being happy. I want you to make that commitment right now.
Day 3- TMJ Release
TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint) is also known as the jaw. Aside from the neck, the jaw is a place where people hold a lot of their stress in. Unconsciously, people will clench their teeth or grind their teeth when they are stressed. And over time, the muscles of our jaws develop spasms and get hard and tight. This can cause pain. Similar to getting a massage, releasing your jaw muscles will make you feel lighter and more relaxed. It will help eliminate stress decrease the stress that you are feeling. To do this, you can use your knuckles or a massager and gentle massage the muscles around your jaw. You can do that for 5 minutes a couple of times a day or when you feel you are stressed.
Day 4- Audio Meditation
Meditation is not blanking your mind as some people think it is. Meditation helps you get better control of your mind. It reframes your mind. Doing it helps you get in a better mindset, helps you get more relaxed and calm. It is a common complaint that people find it hard to meditate. That is why I suggest audio meditation. Audio meditation makes it easier for people to get used to meditating. The audio (music or words) will help you get into that meditation state. You can get them from YouTube, Amazon or Apple Music. It sets the mood and prepares your mind to be more relaxed and not think of too many things.
Day 5- Suboccipital Release, Traps Release
It is commonly known that people hold a lot of their stress in the neck. Aside from poor posture, stress is a very common reason why people have stiff and hard neck muscles. And with time, this causes pain. Massaging or releasing these muscles helps you feel lighter, more relaxed and eliminate stress. It also prevents your neck muscles from continuing to get tighter and cause pain.
To do this, you can use a small rubber ball or an umbrella or cane as long as it has the rounded handle. Use the ball or the umbrella or cane to locate the spots on your neck and upper back where you feel pain when you exert the pressure. Continue exerting pressure on those spots holding the pressure for 1-2 minutes. You will feel the pain ease up. When this happens, you can move on to the next spot. You can do this 1-2 times a day. It may take around 5-10 minutes each session.
Day 6- Take Control of Your Finances
Money is a big stressor in a lot of people. I know people that when they don’t have money, they get depressed, agitated, irritable, angry. When you look at the most successful people in the world, they don’t have the same idea of money as regular people. They do not have the same relationship with money as people in the general public do.
What does money mean to you? I heard from people that money is power, status, happiness, respect, even some say money is everything. If that’s your idea of money, then if you don’t have money, you don’t have all those things including happiness. I will share with you what money means to me. To me, money is a unit of choice. If I have more money, I have more choices. If I have less money, I have less choices. But it does not mean that if I don’t have money, I don’t have happiness. My family did not have money when I was growing up, but I was happy and had lots of good memories. I want you to have a healthy relationship with money.
Day 7- Spend Quality Time With Love Ones
Aside from #1, this is the other most important tip I want to share with you to eliminate stress, to be in a better mindset, to get you more positive. When you spend time with your love ones, do you notice that you feel good afterwards? Chemicals in the body such as dopamine, serotonin and endorphin are responsible for making you feel good. Aside from exercise, spending time with love ones increases these chemicals in the body.
This is why I spend a lot of time with my son and my family. This helps lessen my stress and re-energizes my body. I can have the worst day at work, but when I see my son’s smile when I get home, I feel good. It feels like nothing bad happened. Love can overcome all these other emotions and thoughts. I want you to start doing this regularly and you will be amazed with how good you will feel.
I would love to know what you think about this. Feel free to send me your comments and share this with your family and friends. You can see this and other videos I created in our website under Get Active & Fit with Regie. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel, join our facebook group, TEAM TRANS4M or follow us on Instagram.
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