To be honest, I deal with stress. I am a mother of three, the sole breadwinner in the house, a wife, I run a business and work two jobs (all from home) and most of the time I don’t get enough quality sleep. Thankfully I have a husband who takes care of the house, cooks the meals, and does what would traditionally be the stay at home wife/mom duties. And let me tell you, he’s really good at it. At the same time though, the kids still come to me for almost everything, which is tough when you’re in the middle of a workflow and you want to get it done while the idea is fresh.

Stress is an incredible strain on our bodies and is a dream killer. Most of us are under chronic compounded stress. Chronic stress is like putting bags and bags on our back increasing the load, until one day we get the straw that breaks our back and then we break down. And a breakdown looks different for everybody. But most importantly when you are under stress all the time, your body is incapable of functioning at optimal capacity. When you’re under stress, digestion is the first function to shut down, which means your body is not getting fed properly, putting your health at risk.

So here are a few of my stress-busting tips, activities that I do that help keep me sane so I can keep my dreams alive and stay focused on them.

My Sunday Soak.
Every Sunday I have the hottest most enjoyable bath. If I don’t come out a lobster, was it even a bath? I’m not much for bubbles, but I love to add lavender and Himalayan Cedarwood for the most Zen bath ever. What I love about my bath is how much I sweat. It feels so good. The heat helps relax my muscles that have spent most of the week in a computer chair.
My bath is also my time to just let my mind go. I have my best ideas when I’m in the tub. So allowing that time to unwind makes all the difference for me as I start a new week.

Yoga! Yoga! Yoga! Yoga!
That is a chant just so you know.
I don’t yoga every day, but I do my best to get it in 3-4 times a week. I’m sure you have heard that exercise helps relieve stress, but it doesn’t mean you have to shred your body, although sometimes you just need to sweat it out, and sometimes I do.
The yoga I do is from a DVD and focuses on the core. Again, because I spend most of my time in a computer chair strengthening my core is essential. Aside from the physical benefits, I find that the focus on my breath and movement helps to quiet my mind. This is also where I do my best to meditate and just listen to the sound of Rodney’s voice as he guides the practice. I find yoga to be incredible for my body, mind and spirit.

Tune OUT of the News.
Honestly, if there was breaking news that was critical to your survival you’d hear about it. You don’t need to watch it. Besides, it’s usually the same garbage day in and day out that rarely has any effect on your life anyways.
All it’s doing is creating fear, anger and sadness. And we all know what happens when people live in fear, I don’t think I need to spell that one out for you.
I tuned out from the news unintentionally when I move out of my parent’s house when I was 19 and intentionally in 2009. And let me tell you, what a difference. I know there are crappy things out there happening, but it’s not going to do me or the world any good if I just stay frozen in fear and sadness. What I have to do is turn it off, and focus on my vision that will actually help and make a difference in the world.

PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!
One of my favorite things to do is play. Whether it’s a kitchen dance party to Britney Spears with my girls or roughhousing with my boy and the girls, it all feels great. When was the last time you went down a slide and felt the pure joy of play? When was the last time you played? When you threw all inhibition to the wind and just played. How did you feel? Probably pretty amazing.
Yet, here we are, adults, taking on some much stress every day and not releasing it. play helps. So I like to get out and just play. It’s amazing how much better I feel and more focused.

Music Is My Medicine.
When things really get to me, there is nothing like a great song blasted and belting out the lyrics like a superstar. Music has a way of healing and relieving stress for me. What music I listen to depends on what emotion I need to release, but I have songs for every emotion. It’s not so much the music that relieves the stress, it the emotional release that music facilitates that makes the difference. Play it loud and proud.

I Supplement.
Plain and simple, I take my vitamins. As I mentioned at the beginning when we’re under stress the first system to shut down in our digestive system. This means, that no matter how much we eat, our body is not digesting and assimilating the nutrients effectively, meaning we are becoming nutritionally deprives at a cellular level. That is no good senior.
Having a good supplement foundation helps so much because it doesn’t require as much energy to break down the food-lets (that’s code for vitamins, and the reason I call them food-lets is because the ones I take are made from food, they are not synthetic vitamins. And yes, there is a huge difference that I will explain in another post). When you take supplements your body does not have to pull apart the food to get the nutrients, the nutrients get released. Therefore your cells can get what they need even though your digestive system is on the fritz.
When choosing a supplement regime I recommend one that covers all the nutrients protein and all. My go-to is a strip and shake. It covers all the bases very simply.

If you are reading this I hope that what I have shared will help you manage the stress you’re dealing with. It’s a tough road but remembers you are not alone and please, please be kind to yourself. You are worth it.

Also, if you’d like to hear my favorite holistic doctor talk about stress how it affects you and what he recommends you can do so here in my online Wellness Center. It’s free to join and full of great info from nutrition pros.

Take care of yourself this week and try not to sweat the small stuff, and it’s all small stuff.

Hugs,
Kristin 🙂

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