We must learn to deal with stress or it will literally kill you. As humans we are only supposed to be incredibly stressed out when we are fighting for our lives to avoid stress.
We were not meant to have heart attacks because of non-violent means. Your health is a priority; if your heart can’t function in a peak state, neither can your mind.
Similarly, when we feel too much stress at work and don’t treat our systems the way we should, we get sick much easier, we gain weight much faster, our heart can stop working and even our reproductive capacities are adversely impacted.
Here are three tips for unwinding and dealing with stress:
1: What to Do the Second You Return from Vacation
One of the best pieces of advice is that the second you return from your vacation, open your calendar and look out 6 months and book your next vacation.
When you work too hard without taking breaks you burnout and become incredibly unproductive. If you work for 3 months, for example, around the clock without many breaks, you will burnout.
The results can be catastrophic for your career and even your personal life. Pace yourself and take breaks often.
2: Take That Weekly Day of Rest for Your Mind and Body
In several religions, one of the ten rules is to rest on the 7th day. Our ancestors knew about burnout thousands of years ago! You need to take off at least one day per week in order to rest your mind and body.
Read this wonderful quote from the Dalai Lama when it comes to your health:
“Man…sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
3: Try ‘Screen Free Weekends’
Distance yourself to check work email on weekends. In fact, tell your spouse or kids to give you crap if you check any screen in the weekend. Family always comes first, especially on weekends.
Hopefully your partners, supervisors or clients all have children and spend time with their families on the weekend instead of working. If not, you should very politely and politically let them know that your family comes first on weekends. Heck you come first during the weekends too; relax and recover. You deserve it!
Stress will kill you; don’t be an idiot. See stress as a challenge and not as a threat. Learn to take breaks. Don’t walk into the propeller. Hakuna matata!
Have more tips to avoid stress? Tell us in the comment section below….
