Stress Management Techniques And Mindfulness Practices for Navigating Life's Challenges.

Understanding Stress

Be it personal challenges, financial difficulties, or tension from the workplace or school, stress happens to be one inevitable part of our lives. It plays a very effective role in our daily mental and physical well-being. Very fortunately, I'll be sharing here some stress management techniques that could be adopted by anyone. But before getting to that, let's get started with what stress means in simple terms.

What is Stress?

Now, I would define stress as a state of tension, be it mental, physical, or financial, often caused or stirred up by a situation hard to control. In simpler words, a difficult situation. Stress is a very natural "ishh" we could go through at some point in life as it could help in some cases. But in a situation where your stress becomes too overwhelming for you to handle, I'll be recommending some steps in this articr that I feel should help to an extent, at least.

Understanding and Managing Stress:

First off, I feel you should be able to understand the stress you're going through. Understanding what exactly the problem is will help in knowing what next to do. Although we are all people with different personalities and thinking, I'll be trying my best to give steps that could be favorable for just anybody at all.

Being Still: 

I would recommend first that whatever the case may be, be it coming to the realization of bad news or the breaking of it to you, JUST BE STILL. This is a technique that works for me, no matter what the case may be. Panicking, in my view, would only make you feel worse. When you keep still, it would let thoughts and emotions flow. Yes, emotions would flow, whether letting tears out, screams, or just anything, it would still help a lot. Take, for instance, a single mother coming to the realization that she has a lot of financial responsibilities to meet within a very short deadline. Her panicking at such realization would only leave her or expose her further to a more effective mental stress. If she decides to employ the technique of being still at first, different thoughts would definitely flow into her mind, whether good or bad ones. But at least it would give her the space to think, and in the process, may let out tears, frustration, unintentional words, etc. Or for another instance, a young surviving guy who's got a whole lot to meet up with at his place of work and also some financial responsibilities to settle within a short range of time shouldn't start off panicking. Having a chill with just yourself and nothing more would help you scale through the first stage, which is to think of a way out of your situation(s) at hand.

Meditation Techniques: 

So after letting your thoughts and emotions flow, I feel meditating should come next. Meditating comes in different forms, each with its own effect depending on the use. I'll be making mention of just 4 of them.

    1. Mindfulness Meditation: Mindfulness meditation is the process of being fully aware of the surrounding you're in at the moment. It could be done anywhere actually. While I'd prefer to have my session in my quiet room, you could prefer to have yours in a bus, your place of work, etc. While meditating mindfully, you should just let your thoughts and emotions pass without judgment. This could be adopted in a case of anxiety. For instance, a teenager with social anxiety who can't stand a crowd and begins shaking off for no apparent reason could employ this to relieve himself or herself.

    2. Transcendental Meditation: For transcendental meditation, you could decide to pick a phrase/sentence or maybe just a word to be said continuously for about 10-15 minutes twice or thrice a day. Doing this with your eyes closed could be more effective and would also give you a feeling of peace and an eased mind. A person dealing with imposter syndrome could employ this form of meditation. For instance, a young striving adult after a day's work without achieving the set goal could mutter "I can do this, I know I can do this" while on his way home from work (in a bus). Or a person with body dysmorphia could mutter to himself or herself in the mirror "I do not care what anyone says to me, I know I am beautiful and there's someone out there who admires me".

  3. Guided Meditation: This form requires you to employ the use of a video, image, or object that you find relaxing. It would help in giving you an eased and relaxed mind. This method could be employed by a student finding it hard to think about an assignment or read for an examination.

    4. Loving-Kindness Meditation: In this form, you direct good wishes towards other people. When doing this, you could start with pronouncing a positive statement to yourself, after which you could extend the wishes to people around you. Based on my research, this should be done in a quiet place and while sitting. But having experienced my mother adopt this method quite a number of times, one could actually do it while doing a chore or even pacing around a room.

Post-Meditation:

With the kind of person I am, after meditating, I'd either let out my frustration by crying or fall into a very long sleep 😂😭. But based on other people, I really do not know what could come next, and I'd want you guys to let me know what would come next for you.

Prayer:

Prayer has to come next for me, guys. Praying in whatever you believe in has to be something that w useorks for everyone. I happen to be a strong believer in faith, and never would I speak ill of anyone's belief or culture or anything of such. Taking whatever your issue is to your God/Gods should be a very big consideration everyone should take to have a stress-free or less stressed life.

Stress could be a driving force or a hindrance, depending on how we manage ourselves and our situations. Thank you so much for reading. 😚🫶