How many of you are stressed at this time? There’s not a single person who doesn’t know what stress is. It’s one of those words that needs less defining, and more experience to understand.
You see in the long run, we go through lots of things that put us outside our comfort zone. Then we keep on thinking about it and our mind starts playing its tricks. Now there are two possibilities: Either our mind looks up, gets confident and says, “Yes, we can do it.” Or it looks down and says, “Sorry buddy, I don’t think we can do it, you are screwed.” That’s when we start thinking of all the possibilities of how things can go wrong and how we will fail. This creates sheer panic and we get stressed. Now the funny thing is our mind does not let us forget these things which create stress.
Madam Toastmasters, fellow members and dear guests: There are many ways of reducing stress and every single one of you might have your own way of relieving stress. But today, I will share some of the simple things that I implemented in my life to reduce stress and will help you in reducing stress as well. All of you might know these things, but they’re sitting in the back of your heads. I will try get it from here (back of your head) to here (forehead) using my examples.
1. Keep work stress at workplace Work stress is a major reason for stress in everyone’s life. Do you guys agree? Yes or no? You have horrible bosses or piles of never ending work or assigned tasks which might not be possible to finish in s given time? Everyday when I leave the workplace, I leave all the stress, grudges, envy, and incomplete work, in the office. It took me some time to get used to it, but I did. I have a work phone provided by my company. When I leave work, I switch it off and put it in my bag, that way I will not have access to phone or emails that I get out of office hours. I keep my work laptop at work, this way I will not be tempted to work and even if someone gets a hold of me, I have a reason to not work from home :). If I think, I have to finish work, I take extra time at the office, finish it, and then leave.
2. Meditate everyday In many cultures, meditation has a very high importance. It helps you to clear your mind, and explore yourself. I get up early and try to meditate for at least 15 mins. The way I do is as follows: I sit quietly with my eyes closed, clear my thoughts and try to think about nothing. Yes, you heard me right: Nothing. Try it and tell me how hard it is. Now what I do is, I start by not thinking about anything. But this rarely happens. But then,instead of getting drowned in these thoughts, I start organizing my thoughts one by one. How can I manage my work properly. What can I do to make everyone's life easy. What can I do to make people around me happy. If I think I have made some mistakes how can I fix them. This way, my mind becomes clear and organized about what should be done next. Thus, meditation helped me not only in organizing my thoughts but also in managing my anger.
3. Get my heart pumping Everyday for sometime, I make sure to do some heart pounding exercise. This way I can take out all of my frustration, anger and stress, leaving me with clear and calm head. Often, many days I don't get time to exercise, So I get off a few subway stations before my stop and brisk walk home. When I travel for work, I have to use a car to get to work. In that case, I park my car as far as I can from the building gate. This ensures some mandatory walking. On weekends, I try to get involved in outdoor activities, like jogging, swimming, and tennis.
4. Take a Break One of the big mistakes that I did in the past was not take any days off. Most of the companies often provide employees with paid days-off. If my vacation days are not approved, I call out sick. I take this time to catch up with my family, friends and other activities which get ignored because of stressful work. Many times I sit at home and do nothing. That also helps. Recently, my company has asked me to travel a lot. I take this opportunity to see new places, yes alone, by taking a few days off after my work is done. Often, I run out of my paid vacation days but even then, I take unpaid days off. It is worth it, because after relaxation, my body and mind is fresh and it gives me more productivity.
5. Give speeches in Toastmasters One thing that I have experienced and that has really helped me in overcoming my stressed life and anxiety is giving speeches at Toastmasters. Giving speeches in front of so many people takes so much adrenaline and stress that I feel other stresses are nothing and I can easily handle them. Also, preparing speeches, and listening to other speeches forcefully clears your mind, takes me out of my work setup. No matter what happens, I try my best to attend toastmasters meetings.
So, after experiencing some ups and downs in my work and personal life, I decided to leave my stress at work, meditate everyday, get good workout for the body, take time off and try to give as many speeches as possible in toastmasters. Implementing these 5 things have made my life a lot smoother and I am still looking for more ways of make it better :).
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