Learn How To Handle Stress and Make Yourself a Priority

Do you need help on how to handle stress? Many times in life we get caught up in the hustle and grind of everyday life.  This can be due to having children to take care of, coordinating their schedules, or cleaning the house.  For others this can be due to paying bills, managing work stress, drinking more water, dealing with family stress, and the list goes on.  There are plenty of reasons to get stressed, it is how we learn to deal with that stress and find time to invest in ourselves to help make us the best version of ourselves.  Once we can learn to help our self, then we can better help others or better manage all of life’s stresses.

Once we know what causes our stress we can better find a way to help balance the stress and compassion with ourselves.  This will look different for each person.   Keep track of your emotions with a calendar or journal.  When you are feeling anxious, stressed, or mad write down what happened to make you feel this way.  After some time, you could see a pattern of an event or time that you feel the same feelings.  This will indicate what is making you feel these emotions.

Once we have discovered what makes us feel the extra stress, now we can focus on how to make it less stressful.  For example, if you find that chores are the thing that causes stress, try pairing this with something you like.  Play some music, favorite TV show or movie with the chores and this could improve your mood.

But what if the thing causing the stress is money or interactions with certain people.  Make sure that you are creating a balance.  For instance, if money is something that causes stress remind yourself what you can control about a stressful situation.  We cannot control rates on car insurance or how much the internet costs.  But, we can look at other expenses and see what we can control.  Sometimes that could just be looking towards self-care.

Self-care is a way that you physically and mentally invest in yourself.  This can involve spending money or not spending money.  For example, this can be reading a book, taking a nap, going to get your hair done, or even going for a walk.  This needs to be deliberate time and efforts spent on yourself.  So it might feel silly, but some need to put it on the calendar or set an alarm to remind themselves.  But this is a must in keeping our mental health in check.

Most of us have heard that living a healthy lifestyle can be impactful in your mental health.  It very much is.  There have been many studies to prove the effectiveness of this thought.  The more we eat healthy and get our daily activity we can reduce stress in our body and mind.  Again, this will look differently for each individual, especially depending on where you are on your journey to health.  But any start or stride towards a healthy lifestyle will help. If you want more information on ways of handling stress check out this article. https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-management.htm

If you are ready to learn how to make yourself a priority and manage your stress, the therapists at The Center at Cinco Ranch can help! To begin counseling in Katy, TX follow these three steps:

1. Contact our office to set up an appointment or to get more information on stress management. 
2. Meet with one of our skilled therapists
3. Find ways to live the most fulfilling life!

Here at The Counseling Center at Cinco Ranch we offer counseling services for people of all ages including: women’s issues, couples counseling, treatment for anxiety, trauma counseling, counseling for kids, counseling for young adults, men’s therapy , eating disorder treatment,  depression treatment, family therapy, and group counseling. Our therapists strive to regularly post blogs with helpful information on a variety of mental health topics. To learn more about our therapists and our counseling services, please reach out to the Counseling Center today!