Our expectation of the outcome decides whether something feels exciting or stressful. Feeling good about how things might turn out? Exciting. Have a sneaky feeling might not like the result? Stressful. And part of the answer to how to reduce stress hides within that fact.
ABC Method to Reduce Stress
The ABC method is a common-sensical approach to stress based on scientific findings and understanding that I have found to be effective. It’s about treating stress as we do any other problem in our life – contain, correct, improve.
1. Action or adding movement
Usually, we don’t have to do anything physically active to solve the tensions, the little stressors in our daily life. Like, finishing up assignments with a tight deadline, or dealing with what someone said about you, or behaved with you.
Now, stress triggers adrenaline and cortisol production in our body. And even though we might feel relieved after handling the stressors, these chemical build-ups stay put in our body until we spend them physically.
That’s one of the main reasons why exercising makes us feel more relaxed. And it doesn’t even have to be anything demanding, another thing adding to our stress. Just something that adds more movement to our day. Even going for a short 10-minute walk may be as helpful as a 45-minute workout in this context.
Anything that works for us. May be taking the stairs whenever we can, or carrying things one by one instead of picking everything up at once to make more trips around the house.
2. Balance
The next thing to do is putting things back into order, creating balance – balance between spending and recharging our energy.
When we know the things that are most important for us – the things that truly matter, that will still matter 6 months from now, that will help us move in the direction we want to go – we can choose more confidently which things we want to fit in the limited time and energy we have and still have peace of mind that we are doing good, staying on top of things.
So, the 2 things that help create and maintain balance to reduce stress in life are to
- get clear about what’s really important to us, get clear on our priorities, know what truly matters, and
- get realistic about how much we can really handle in a day.
Managing our time, our energy better means filling up our day to the right level with the right things leaving enough space to relax, recharge, and get back to things more effectively.
3. Clarity to reduce stress
The C in the ABC method is for clarity because lack of clarity…when we aren’t clear about how to get so much done or how to handle a certain situation… it adds more stress.
The video up top goes deeper into this and shows a simple way to not only reduce stress but feel more in control of the things happening in your life.
Hope you found this useful.
