How to De-stress.

A follow up of my post before- Why I am going to write about it all! I did promise a better title, but nothing really made "stress" sound exciting or catchy. I don't think you can really dress up the word "stress" into something easy or light hearted reading material!

So I was going to write tips that I do, and have heard of that help stress, some are quite... well... unusual. But if your smiling because of reading how to de-stress I think my aim is finally working!

I was going to start with the obvious and hopefully get a little more "adventurous".

1. Before trying to relax yourself organise what ever is getting you worried, nervous or stressed so you feel in control of it. Own up to what is making you stressed, write down little steps that you can take to get to your goal. It makes it less intimidating the smaller steps you make, even if it is planned out for a longer time. 
2. Down time. ME time. This is a bit category that most people rely on to de-stress, and completely differs from person to person what they want to do in their spare time. For me it's usually doing something girly, something I never usual have the time or effort to do it in a relaxing way. So paint your nails, do some online shopping (but only buy things that are small, if you spend too much on something that isn't really on you NEED list it may just have a knock on effect!) , have a proper bubble bath, listen to music with sound cancelling ear phones- shuts out the world more, read something light hearted that doesn't have huge tragedies (one of the mistakes I made!). So basically anything that settles you, and gives you time to yourself not to think about what is going on in the world around you, only what you are doing in those couple of minutes. Do this for about 20 minutes a day before you go to sleep, so it's not too long you feel guilty or too short to relax you. 
3. Something that makes you relax, I have this smell that I associate with relaxation, and it calms me down almost instantly. So think about the foods you have on rainy days all cosy inside, or days that have always made you into a brighter mood. My ideal is lasagne, Chinese, hot chocolate, and a gentle smell of lime scented candles! But whatever works for you.
4. On days off do something that makes you smile, whether it is geeking out, eating out, sleeping in or  staying in. talking to someone who doesn't ask about the deep meaningful things (although that sometimes does help, just get away for a bit and talk or meet up with someone who makes you smile for all the right reasons.)
5. Now we are starting to get into the more adventurous ones! There are some herbal remedies I know some of my friends take, like anxiety herbal balms and sprays. I haven't tried them, but they do seem to work on some people more than others. Here is a site that shows remedies and how they work, and simple tricks to make those remedies work best.
6. EFT, a technique that I find hard to grasp at why it works, and I would find it a challenge to persevere and may it work for me. But everyone else is different, so if things don't work there are always more possibilities. This technique is where you tap a pressure point on your body (usually your forehead or around there) and associate good images and relaxation, so when you touch that point again you should feel the same relaxation. Again there are other types and making it work for you by adapting it is always good. 

That's probably as far as I'm going to go on this post, but if I come up with more I shall link it to the posts already and see if they make any better impacts on stress levels. Hope that helps!

Ellie.