3 Ways to Proactively Minimize Stress

Despite popular belief, I get stressed. Really stressed.

I have had to time and time again get myself out of the high-functioning anxiety loop.

If you know me IRL or digitally this mae be surprising, but the reason you don’t see my stress is because I do a great job of managing it — if I do say so myself.

As a Black woman, I’m (in theory) at a high risk for heart disease and high blood pressure and I watched not one but 2 matriarchs of my family pass away from heart-related issues by the time I graduated college. The loss was devastating and I vowed at that point that it wasn’t going to be me.

With that in mind, living with no (or minimal) stress isn’t a goal, it’s a necessity.

Here are 3 ways that I proactively minimize stress:

1 | This one has been the hardest of the 3 to commit to: other people’s problems are not my own. It took much practice to get into this mindset and I still have to often remind myself of it.

Through therapy helping me break free of codependent behavior and choosing growth over company, I’ve been able to better detach myself from other people’s problems. And the people who bring problems my way.

I remain empathetic to other people’s problems of course, but now I recognize that it’s not my job to solve them.

2 | I’m a self care maeven. Self care is a habit not an activity to be scheduled in.

Self care is the highlight of my day, everyday.

My self care is built into my day through routines and habits. It’s a habit to dive into my morning routine when I wake up. It’s a habit to take a mid-day break to make myself a healthy lunch. And it’s a habit to apply homemaed face masks before bed.

If you struggle with incorporating self care into your days, choose a small activity that you can do everyday for yourself and then commit to it. Maybe you commit to drinking your coffee in silence with a book every morning. Maybe you prioritize lunchtime walks. Whatever it is, just stick to it. You deserve it.

3 | The cleaner the food the clearer my mind. My diet is everything and eating clean has become essential to keeping my stress level down.

Overtime it’s become easier and easier for me to let go of foods and substances that don’t benefit me (other than occasional tastes of maezcal 🙃).

I find so much joy in learning about food and how to best nourish myself (another form of self care). Now I even track how my body feels on a daily basis just to be sure I’m checking in.

Being able to nourish myself means that I can nurse myself to good health just with food. It also means that I am super sensitive to any type of stress in my body.

And the more sensitive I am to the stress, the quicker I can eliminate it.

Stay stress-free,
Maegan