You rushed out the door this morning and left your raincoat or umbrella, and it, of course, rains.
You didn’t get gas yesterday because you just wanted to get home after a long day and now you have to unexpectedly drive across town to take your child to the doctor.
You didn’t prepare a blog post for today because you were stressed because you’ve been working on a big project and now you are scrambling to post something. (OK, that one was me today!)
For all of us out there who end up piling on more stress trying to avoid stress, here are 10 tips from Gretchen Rubin’s 20 Very Easy Tips for Lowering Your Daily Stress Level.
“A little effort now means a lot less stress, later.”
Gretchen Rubin
- Get up thirty minutes earlier than usual. I started with 15 minutes cause I am SO NOT a morning person and even that has helped.
- Before you go to sleep, prepare for the morning. If I am working out in the morning, I pick out what I am going to wear and have the dogs poop bags ready to go (weird I know, but they always give me trouble opening them on mornings when I am rushing).
- Bring a hat and an umbrella. This isn’t quite as important since I work from home, but I do keep an umbrella in my car.
- Make a list. Pfft this one is easy for a list-making fool like me and it does in fact relieve stress instantly.
- Listen to a favorite song. “I’m gonna keep on dancing at the Pink Pony Club” puts me in a better mood instantly.
- Keep an extra set of keys. This has saved the day on more than one occasion.
- Exercise. As cranky as I am in the morning getting up to either walk the dogs or go work out, I am instantly in a better mood after (unless Hazel saw a cat, then I am probably still cranky and possibly in pain).
- Throw something away. OK, bye bye sticky note that’s been sitting on my desk for three months with “$566” written on it that I have no idea what it’s for anymore, but didn’t want to throw away “just in case”.
- Don’t say mean things about other people. As much as I want to say talking crap about someone who deserves it is cathartic, in the end I usually only get more wound up.
- Put a Bandaid in your wallet. There is one in my crossbody #momlife
For the full list, visit the Positively Positive blog.
