How to cope with stress

April 01, 2019

We all have stuff going on in our lives, and sometimes juggling it all can prove to be a bit of challenge. Work, kids, money, friendships, marriages – you name it, it causes stress.

The struggle for many is how best to deal with stress, especially when it feels like it’s getting a bit much. To help, the team at Get Going, have come up with some tips to help when life is getting hectic.

Make Lists

Here at Get Going, we’re partial to a list. Sometimes physically writing stuff down can help get rid of any unnecessary stress. When you’ve had a difficult week, it’s completely normal to work yourself up with emotion, which makes you feel like you have more on your plate than you actually do. Writing is a great way to simplify those million and one thoughts going through your mind. This could be listing work deadlines, bills to pay, what to buy at the supermarket – whatever is making you feel stressed, try getting it out of your head by writing it down.

Exercising

For some people, exercise is a miracle cure, for both physical and mental stress. It acts as a stress reliever, releasing feel-good endorphins and distracting you from all those daily concerns. Sometimes when you’re stressed, you can end up in a bit of a rut, not wanting to exercise, so it’s important you find something that you genuinely enjoy – don’t go running just for the sake of running. It could be yoga, combat sports, tai chi, bowels, golf, swimming, rugby- literally whatever helps manage stress, do it. It will help clear your head, make you feel more positive and improve how you feel about yourself.

Leave work at work

As difficult as it can be, you need to have a work/life balance, to ensure that job woes don’t overrun into your free time. After work, try and switch off, and go into ‘home mode’. If you’ve had a particularly bad day, by all means discuss it with your loved ones but don’t let it dominate your evening and weekend conversations. You are more than your job title, you may be a parent, a sibling, a grandparent, a friend – it’s important to keep this in mind and switch off from your professional persona.

Hobbies

Many of us neglect hobbies, and only realise we don’t have any when people ask what we do in our spare time. Having a hobby is a great way to combat stress, and you can class literally anything as a hobby. Sailing, shopping, motorbike riding, reading – whatever you enjoy doing! Focusing more on hobbies will help you re-focus onto something new, so you can get rid of any extra energy.

Do what makes you happy

Life can be so hectic that often doing the little things that make us happy gets put to the back of the queue. Having a bath, listening to your favourite music, painting, photography, watching a great TV series, baking (the list goes on) are just a couple of possible guilty pleasures you may have. So, indulge! Life’s too short!

Spending time with loved ones

It’s important to cherish time spent with friends and family and never take it for granted. In many cases, they’re the people that understand you better than anyone else and know what to do to help reduce the stress. Make time for your loved ones – that could be taking a day off work, using your weekend, making a long journey to see them or ‘reluctantly’ going around for a family dinner (even if that means being stuck with the brother in law for the evening).

Having something to look forward to

There’s nothing better than being excited about something. Just knowing you have something to look forward to, such as a much-deserved holiday, can help reduce stress. If you are considering a holiday, Get Going offer single trip cover for as little as £4.22 – to give you one less thing to think about.

Some people are carers for their loved ones, a responsibility which can bring about a high level of stress. Although going on holiday should be exciting, knowing you’re leaving the person you care for can be a daunting thought. That’s why at Get Going we offer a carers extension, offering you cover to cancel or cut short your trip if your loved one becomes unwell or your ’replacement’ carer can no longer take over.