As projects take longer to complete than anticipated and new commitments need our attention too, it’s easy to find that old, familiar feeling of STRESS creeping in. Under normal circumstances, stress is a positive response that keeps us alert and ready to avoid danger, but in our modern world this fight or flight response is often misplaced and the stress response occurs when we face continuous “to dos” without relief. As a result, we feel overworked and stress-related tension builds. If we want to stay healthy, happy & productive in completing our tasks, it’s important that we keep stress at bay! Easier said than done? Maybe not! Please enjoy these tips & strategies for staying stress free during any busy time!
Understand and Manage your ENERGY: Watch a herd of horses for any period of time and you’ll be amazed at how well they manage their energy and how effectively they go about their “business”. In contrast, we humans frequently find ourselves overwhelmed, stressed, and exhausted. We tend to believe that we need to work harder and are trained early on to ignore our instinctual rhythms in the name of achievement and productivity. 
As a result, most of us end up chasing the wrong resource: hours in the day. Instead, we should focus on something entirely different: our energy. Rather than treating life and/or business as a marathon, treat them as sprints and recovery (recovery being key here!). Without real restoration and rejuvenation during the day, people unknowingly hold themselves back — distributing their efforts throughout the day instead of reaching 90% output at the moments that correspond with their body’s naturally productive rhythms of alertness. Consequently, we aren’t able to do our best work (or best in general) and we aren’t getting the rest we need to rejuvenate ourselves either. Understanding the different types of energy we possess and learning how to charge, revitalize and restore these energy sources will help us to take control of our productivity and lessen our stress levels. Check out this article on managing your energy the natural way to learn more!
Replace “need” with “want”: Listen to yourself, literally. When we’re stressed, our interior AND outer monologue can sound something like this “I NEED to check my email, and then I NEED to vacuum the living room and I NEED to get the car washed, I NEED to make dinner, I NEED..NEED..NEED to do all these things”.
Try this simple trick – instead of using the word “need” replace it with the word with “want”. Ex: “I WANT to check my email and I WANT to make dinner…” and so on. This simple switch in the way that we perceive our actions is more powerful than you may realize, until you test it out. Our words are powerful, they connect directly to our thoughts and our thoughts influence our feelings. If we’re constantly in “NEED” then there’s a heightened sense of urgency or stress. But if we “WANT” to do something there comes a realization that this is our choice and possibly even our desire! Try this exercise and you may find that many things you thought you “needed” to do you actually “want” to do for some reason or another – it may be for a less obvious reason but you still want to do it because it will lead to an end result that pleases you. Or maybe you’ll find that you don’t want to do that thing at all and this too is an important discovery that will benefit you.
Write a Gratitude List: When we feel stressed out it’s usually because our focus is very strongly reigned in on whatever it is that is stressing us out – our to do list, an uncomfortable situation, possible negative outcomes, etc. This simple trick can be used to shift our focus and change our perspective, alleviating our stress in the process. Take 2-5 minutes to write down as many things as you can think of that you are GRATEFUL for. It can be anything: your cat, sense of humor, best friend, the warm weather, your health, ice-cream and so on! Taking just a few minutes to shift your focus to what your grateful for (what exists that is “good” and makes you happy) helps you to see the big picture. It reminds you that these great reasons to be happy do in fact exist! 
Even when there’s other stuff happening that might not be so fun, the stuff that you think is really awesome is still really awesome and is worth being happy about – you might have just forgotten about it momentarily because you were caught up in the not-so-nice stuff! Make a commitment to writing a gratitude list once a day – the morning is a great time – then you can look back at the list throughout the day to remind you of what’s really important. Keeping those things that really matter and bring joy to your life in mind throughout your day, will help you remember why you’re doing what you’re doing in the first place and to focus less on the small stuff. Seeing the “bigger picture” in this way, helps us to recognize where our true priorities lie, and likely it’s not with getting the laundry done before dinner – that kind of stuff just doesn’t have as much weight when compared with the smile of someone that we love.
Take care of yourself first: If you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t be able to take care of anything else. When self-care falls by the wayside, we no longer operate at our best and aren’t able to function as well.
Take care of your body first – make sure you get enough sleep and eat healthily. We can easily tell when a little kid hasn’t gotten enough sleep or is hungry – the crankiness sets in & it’s hard to ignore! The same thing goes for adults, the only difference is we become used to repressing the agitated feelings of being overtired or malnourished. The negative effects are still there – we just aren’t bursting into tears or throwing tantrums (or maybe sometimes we still are). Make sleep and proper nutrition a priority and you’ll notice your ability to cope improve significantly. Also, get moving! Exercising helps relieve stress by getting your blood pumping and your lungs breathing – reminding you that you’re alive! Exercise also brings us to the present moment, promotes more energy by raising our vibration to a higher level, promoting a better mood. All of these things protect us from stress. For more tips on self-care click here!
Connect with Nature: Ahh Nature. Doesn’t it make you feel better just thinking about it? Getting out of the grind and back into the natural world can help us set our natural rhythms back into balance. We’re reminded to breathe! We’re reminded how vast the world is and how small our problems are in comparison. We can more easily connect with the present moment — in the natural world there is no sense of “time” or “deadlines” there is only what is happening now. 
Anything “future” or “past” is just a memory or an idea, it’s all in our head. When we’re focused on future or past, it’s easy for us to focus on worries & fears about things that “could” happen or “should” be – this type of thinking is stress inducing and it’s based on nothing that is truly happening now. Reconnect with what IS happening and you’re likely to feel that stress dissolve along with the imagined thoughts & scenarios. Smell the scent of the pine forest, feel the gentle breeze against your skin, see the sun shimmering & reflecting off of the surface of water, hear the sweet chatter of birds or the gentle crash of ocean waves against the shore and find yourself in the moment.
Spend time with HORSES: Horses can activate the body’s natural relaxation response. When standing near, brushing, or walking beside a horse or other animal, your focus is no longer on external circumstances and the “to do” list. 
Spending time with animals can provide a respite from the mental chatter of stressful thoughts, resulting in feeling refreshed and renewed, as the mind has been given an opportunity to slow down and rest. Studies published in the American Psychological Association’s Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin, revealed that children who spent time with horses had ‘significantly’ lower stress levels measured by lower amounts of the stress hormone cortisol than of those in a control group. Horses also help to bring us back to an awareness of self – how we’re behaving, our actions, and what we’re feeling – they provide strong non-verbal feedback in their reaction to our energy. Noticing and watching a horse’s reaction to you helps you to recognize where you are mentally & emotionally. Once this self-awareness is brought forth, an opportunity for shifting to a different mode of operation is possible. A stressed out individual will have the opportunity to notice their stress level and then take a moment to work on alleviating their stress through breath work, physical action or a mental shift in perspective. The horse will continue to provide feedback as their reaction & interaction with their human partner changes while their stress level increases or decreases.
Resources: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2613211/Spending-time-horses-make-teenagers-stressed-study-reveals.html
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