Stress Awareness Month- Finding Balance

Stress plays an important role in our overall wellbeing. Not only is it a significant factor in mental health conditions including anxiety and depression, but stress can also manifest itself through physical health symptoms such as heart disease; the function of our immune system; insomnia and even digestive issues.

To help combat stress, it’s important to recognise the things in our life which are causing us stress and decide if we need to either take a step back to breathe, find balance or eliminate it completely. It’s important that we incorporate plenty of the things we enjoy into our every day lives, too.

Throughout April for Stress Awareness month, we’ll be raising awareness of stress by bringing you a mini-series of blogs to help you bring awareness back to your mind and body. In this blog, we look at how finding balance may help you to feel more in control and relaxed.

Balance your body

It’s important to learn how to tune into your body, and honour what your body is asking for. Whether it’s rest, a good night’s sleep, or to move and express yourself, learn how to slow down and recognise which signals to look out for. Practising yoga or meditation are great ways of learning how to listen to your body. It’s also important to be fuelling your body with nutritious and delicious food! Try to ensure every meal is balanced and incorporate plenty of whole foods into your diet such as fruits and veggies. Stay tuned for our upcoming healthy stress-free recipe blog straight from Ragdale’s kitchen!

Balance your emotions

To find emotional balance, similar to our bodies, we need to check in and discover what we’re feeling. It can be useful to keep a journal and record any thoughts or feelings daily: you might choose to do this every morning with a cup of tea or coffee. Gratitude can help dispel some negative feelings, so with this daily practice, try to write down at least five things that you’re grateful for. You may start to feel that things become a bit lighter and more manageable in time.

Trapped emotions such as such as pain, worry, fear or guilt can lead to our chakras becoming blocked. We’ll explore our chakras in more depth in a later blog, so stay tuned.

Balance your life

With many of us still continuing to stay home, this can mean our days may be lacking structure, which in turn can give us a sense of not feeling fully in control. If you have truly mastered the art of finding balance, then you’ll also most likely be comfortable in moments of imbalance. Life can definitely seem at times like a juggling act, but it’s so important to make sure you’re able to strike a balance and establish a routine which will give you space to breathe.

Start each day by making a ‘to do’ list and ticking them off when each task is completed throughout the day. It doesn’t have to be a huge task, even little jobs here and there such as doing the washing up, making the bed or watering your house plants will still give you that feeling of achieving something. A work-life balance is important too, so make sure you do at least one thing every day which you enjoy- whether it’s reading a good book or going out for a run.

Your environment can have an impact on stress levels, so a clean and tidy living space may help you to de-clutter your mind and give you that breathing space. If you’ve been putting off a spring clean, now might be the perfect time.

If you liked this blog, you might also like:

Rebalance yourself

Create your own gratitude practice

Techniques to help stay calm