5 Tips on Managing Stress

These are troubling times amid a global pandemic. There are various ways to cope with stress and anxiety in a positive and productive manner. Here are just five tips on how you can manage and maintain your mental and emotional health.

Have Faith

Some people choose to turn to faith and religion during times of uncertainty. Resources, support groups and ministries such as The Way International can help bring you a measure of peace and calm by choosing faith over fear.

There are popular Bible verses like Philippians 4, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God,” that can help ease your mind.

Try Fostering

Shelters nationwide reported that more people are signing up to foster pets to keep them company while they are stuck at home. People who could not previously foster because they were too busy with work and never home are now suddenly finding themselves home. 

Fostering can help during such times. Pets like foster dogs and cats provide a stable sense of security and comfortable companionship that can ease potential feelings of isolation and loneliness. Fostering is a win-win, as both humans would benefit from the canine or feline companionship, while animals find safe and secure temporary housing that may even lead to permanent families.

Take Breaks

While staying current and up-to-date on the latest events is important to ensure you know all the facts, and can prepare and act accordingly, it is just as crucial to take breaks. That means taking a break from news, social media and other sources that might feed your anxiety and stress. 

You can choose to relieve your mind by consciously focusing on other things like going for a walk, watching a movie or reading a book. It can even be doing house chores like washing dishes or doing laundry or sanitizing surfaces, which is more important now than ever.

Learn Skills

While you are hopefully listening to officials and authorities and staying at home, this might be the perfect time to learn new skills like sewing or knitting. There is a global need for masks right now, starting with your own community.

Learning to sew so you can make some homemade masks for those who might need it can be not only productive for you but also helpful for others. You can also take this time to learn new skills. Perhaps you have always wanted to learn a new language. This would be a great time to do that.

Build Habits

Take this time to build new healthy habits. With supplies like toilet paper running low, you may find yourself being more conscious about how much toilet paper you use each time. Use this time to learn to only use what you need. 

You can make the supplies you have at home like toilet paper, soap and paper towels last longer simply by making sure you only use the bare minimum you need. Building these habits now will also have positive long-term effects too and save our Earth by reducing the overall usage of plastic and paper.

Remember: You cannot change your circumstances, but you can change your perspective. That will make all the difference.