4 Ways You May be Adding Stress to Your Life
Simply being alive is stressful, but sometimes added stress sneaks in and you may not be aware of the unintentional stress you’re causing yourself. It’s understandable, since more often than not, the added life stress is thanks to certain things we learn from our social environment. Society often teaches us that stress is a badge of honor, but the “hustle” culture leads to discontentment and burnout. So, here are four ways you might be adding stress to your life.
Unintentional Stress Causing Your Life to Spiral
You might be causing stress in ways you were told are normal and just a part of life, but it doesn’t have to be this way. All of these stresses don’t have to exist in your world - so let’s introduce them so you can recognize them and find a professional to help you remove them from your life with less trauma.
Perfectionism. If you’re striving for perfect, it’s unnecessary stress being piled onto your already stressful life. The first step towards removing this perfectionism stress? Learning that just getting things done is enough. Progress over perfection is the key to a less stress-filled life. If you’re looking for resources to help you with perfectionism, you can check out my book, The Perfectionism Journal.
Not being intentional about routines. Whether or not you think you have routines, you have them. Are they always healthy routines, no. Instead, make your routines work for you! Whether it's a morning routine, evening routine, laundry routine, checking email or social media routine, start to slow down and work on being more intentional with your routines.
Expecting others to know what you need. Say where you want to go to dinner! Let them know what they said felt hurtful. Ask to stop to use the bathroom or walk slower so you can keep up. Most people are in their own little worlds and won't know there's a problem unless you say something. Speak up! It'll prevent long-term resentment and allow you to feel more confident about your needs.
Keeping clothes that don't fit or you don't wear anymore. This is just taking up space and by keeping things that you can't wear in hopes that you can one day fit back into them makes you feel bad. Keep what fits and what you love. It'll make getting dressed easier and reduce stress.
When Dealing with Unintentional Life Stress
Dealing with unintentional stress in your life may prove daunting. First, you may not even know the stressors that are problematic and you might need help identifying them. Second, when you have identified them, you may not know how to remove them from your life without being traumatized by the process. Let’s work together!
