The First Step In Your Stress Management Plan

I talk a lot about stress management— in podcasts, in blog posts, in daily conversation and in corporate lectures. Usually I start with explaining what stress actually is, what it does for our body and why it is helpful. I truly believe in order to better show up for ourselves we need to understands the basics of what is going on. Inevitably the question always is, OKAY COOL BUT What is the first thing you would do to start managing your stress?

So today, I am here to answer just that questions.. What is the FIRST thing you should do in your stress management journey?

And honestly, the answer is simple (and it's not)

My answer is....

You have to learn about your body & mind . You have to get to know your baseline

When it comes to stress management, taking care of your body and showing up for yourself, the most important thing you can do is get to know yourself and your baseline better.

So many people are on autopilot, moving from one thing to the next thing to the next— not really knowing how they are feeling, what they need or what is really going on. Often in this autopilot mode, it's easy to go from feeling OK to feeling overwhelmed. It can feel like there is not much transition time— you're just hit with a wave of overwhelm, exhaustion and worry.

Autopilot takes us out of our sensing, feeling and even thinking body. IT takes us out of our day to day experiences and lets us by pass what is really going on. Especially if you are in a chronic stress place. For me, when I was in the midst of my most stressful season of life I was so out of touch with my body that I even lost the signals for hunger and needing to go to the bathroom. I spent so much time ignoring my body because I was so "busy" that I ended up with severe gut health issues and lots of unchecked aches and pains.

So back to what you can do....

You can get in tune with your body: it's wants, needs, desires, feelings and sensations.

I'll be honest what you find might not always feel good and that is okay. in fact, that is part of the process. In order to get to know your body, you have to get to know what feels good and what doesn't, what hurts and what doesn't, what fuels you and what drains you. I like to call it a daily check in. A brief conversation between me and my physical body to see what's up that day.

The process of getting in tune with your body can look different depending on what works best for you. It can be a daily check in guided meditation (see below), journaling, body scan meditation or even a daily movement practice.

The practice of checking in and being honest with how you feel and what you need each day is extremely helpful because when you do feel overwhelmed, over stress and exhausted you can start to catch these patterns before they completely knock you on your ass. Because let's me real, stress is a part of life and if you have been here a while, you also know it's an important part of life.

Some ways to perform Your Daily Check in:

Guided Daily Check in:

Listen to this short 3 minute video and scan how you feel in your body. Maybe aftewards you write it down or just make a mental note.

Body Scan Meditation:

A body scan meditation can be a great way to just feel what is going on in your body without any judgement. Once again, you can write down what comes up or just take a few minutes to sit with it today.

Journaling:

Take a few minutes out of your day to journal about the following things:

1. how do I feel today? Let it all out on paper

2. Let's get specific: how does my physical body feel? how does my mind feel? What are my emotions? What are my thoughts?

3. Am I feeling tired? or energized?

4. What is one thing I can do for myself today that would feel really good and really joyful?

5. What is my physical body asking of me today?

5 Body Check in:

I learned this from a course I took with Dr. Arielle Schwartz and I use it a lot. Take a few moments to check in with your 5 bodies:

1. Check in with your physical body: What sensations do you feel? Where?

2. Check in with your emotional body: Waht emotions do you feel today/

3. Check in with your thinking body: What thoughts are in your mind today?

4. Check in with your breathing body: Is your breath fast or slow? deep or shallow?

5. Check in with your energy body: How is your energy? light or heavy? exhausted or energized? aligned or scattered?

Start here, start with a small consistent practice of getting to know yourself. From there, you start to notice patterns: what feels good, what doesn't, what leaves you energized, what leaves you exhausted.

And then from there, that's when the fun stuff starts— That's when you start to play around with tools and techniques that help YOU manage stress. Movement practices, self massage, breathwork, meditation, mindset resets and so much more.cin

I truly believe that stress management can be fun and most importantly, manageable. I cannot promise you that you will never be stressed again. What I can do is show you how to show up for yourself in seasons of rest, in seasons of stress, in seasons of exhaustion and in seasons of abundance. I can teach you how to show up for yourself in all seasons of life.

So what's the next step?

First, heed over to my blog post 5 ways to nourish Your Nervous System and read some of my favorite way to nourish yourself.

Second, sign up for my newsletter. I will be offering a FREE 7 days of Self Care Course to introduce you to new tools and techniques to help you manage stress and take good care of your mind, body and soul.

Third, explore: try new things and make note of what works and what doesn't!