It would be nice to avoid the undesirable feelings of stress completely, but the reality is that stress—both good stress, like trying to learn a new skill, and bad stress, like fighting with your partner—is an inherent part of existence. However, while stress is something that everyone deals with in life, how you choose to deal with it makes a big difference in how much of an impact it has on physical health and well-being. But how can you learn to stay calm even when faced with difficult situations? If you’re looking to reduce your stress and improve your resilience, here are five tips for staying calm in a stressful situation.
1. Consider using natural substances to calm your nerves
Much like we rely on coffee for a pick-me-up when we’re feeling low on energy, there are plenty of natural substances out there that can serve to calm us down when an external situation has exceeded our ability to cope. Take, for example, cannabidiol, or as it’s more commonly known, CBD.
CBD is a substance that’s purported to have major relaxation benefits, providing you with a quick cool down whenever you need it most. Of course, just like coffee, you need to make sure that you’re purchasing your products from a trustworthy, high-quality vendor. One great company to turn to during your time of need is Plainjane. Plain Jane is a CBD company based in Oregon that focuses on providing customers with locally sourced, high-quality, affordable CBD flowers (and similar products like CBD oil) to those who are looking to reap the benefits that CBD may offer. If you find yourself faced with stressful situations regularly, turning to a company like Plain Jane can help you stock up on all the CBD you need to make it through any difficult period in life.
2. Turn to relaxation exercises when things are overwhelming
Your body and mind are both affected by stress, causing racing thoughts, panicked thinking, and physical symptoms like shaking and a racing heart. In order to move into a more effective space for dealing with the issue that is causing stress, you must be able to calm your body down. Turning to relaxation exercises like deep breathing, taking a moment to freeze and stop what you are doing, and grounding yourself by looking at your surroundings can help you to calm down so that you can successfully tackle the issue at hand.
3. Ask “What now?” rather than “What if?”
When faced with a disaster, it can be easy to ask, what if? However, this type of negative thinking only makes it harder to calm down and think rationally. Instead, stop yourself and ease your worries by asking yourself, what now? By choosing to focus on what the solution to the problem might be rather than its potential outcome, you might be able to calm yourself down and show yourself that you can make it through this with the right course of action. The more you learn how to respond rather than react, the better you’ll be able to remain calm and deal with stressful situations.
4. Cultivate mindfulness to eliminate reactivity
People who find themselves trapped in their thoughts have a difficult time breaking free of their mind when stress strikes. Pursuing a daily exercise like mindfulness meditation serves to help you become more rooted in the present, making it easier to stay focused on the now rather than worrying about the past or the future. Beyond its mental health benefits, mindfulness meditation promotes physical health as well, making it the perfect exercise for stressed-out individuals who are looking to alleviate the symptoms that accompany stressful situations.
5. Walk away to compose yourself and approach the situation again
We live in a society where we’re expected to take care of everything right now. However, when dealing with a stressful situation, it can be hard to make major decisions if you can’t think clearly. To give yourself time and space to breathe, walk away from the situation that is stressing you out. Then, when you’ve had time to think it through and properly relax, come back to it and respond accordingly. Remember, while some things may be urgent, there is always time to take a break and compose yourself before dealing with it.
Staying calm in the face of stress can be difficult, but it’s entirely possible. Next time you encounter a stressful situation that overwhelms your ability to cope, use the five tips above to calm yourself, recalibrate, and come back with the mindset needed to successfully tackle what’s challenging you.