I love the word empowerment! Isn’t that what we all want, to be empowered? On the other hand, I hate the word stress. It’s something we deal with very often (too often for some) and can be hard to escape from. Turning anything into empowerment is great but turning stress into empowerment is off the charts amazing. It’s not exactly easy, but definitely doable.
The first thing I like to do in order to get my power back is create a ‘stress window’. Sounds kind of strange, but a stress window is a period of time in my day where I stress. That’s it. I spend about 30 minutes to an hour worrying about my life, then I let it go for the rest of the day. Not every day needs a stress window, but during the more stressful times in my life, it is extremely helpful. This creates empowerment in your life, as you’re telling your stress ‘No, you can wait until I am ready to think about you’. Your time, your rules.
Next, change your mindset. Feeling stressed every day all day isn’t healthy, and if you’ve been feeling like this for a long time now, it’s best to get professional help. However, most people can agree that stress comes in waves, and some periods of time are worse than others. During those stressful times, it’s good to remember the times when things were quiet and peaceful. They will come back again, but you need to get through this first. Change your mindset by seeing your stress as a sign of growth. You’re changing as a person and the stress shows how you’re coming out of your comfort zone, as that’s where most of the growth and progress happen in life.
Stress can be awful. To the point where it can feel nerve-wracking just waking up in the morning. Let’s turn this on its head! Instead of feeling scared to start your day, use your stress as motivation to succeed. Stress and anxiety are the mind’s way of saying you can’t do something. Important fact – your mind can lie to you, and it does with ease. If you just really don’t want to do something, and there’s no changing your mind, that’s absolutely fine, and you should try and find ways to get out of it. However, if there’s a tiny part of you that wants to do something, but you’re scared, go for it. Nothing is set in stone, and you can stop at any time. Trust that you know what’s best for yourself.
My favourite part about stress is the feeling when everything you were stressed about is done and you can finally relax! Isn’t that such a great feeling? Nowadays, relaxing and taking time for yourself can be labelled ‘lazy’. This is so wrong it actually seems crazy to me. Relaxing is your way of taking back your control. You can’t avoid stress, you just can’t. However, finding ways to cope with it the best way you know how is incredibly empowering and brave. Watch some TV, read a book, cook, bake, colour, anything you want. It’s your life, so don’t let anything take away what’s rightly yours.
By Pia Louisa