How to Manage Your Stress

Over 50% of my audience is in the Tampa Bay area, which means, many are dealing with the impending storm today.

If you are not affected by the storm, chances are also high that you could be experiencing some stress in your own life. Whether it’s related to work, relationships or another area, many of us are navigating this emotion on a regular basis.

The best book I have ever read on stress management is Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycleby sisters Emily and Amelia Nagoski.

In their book, they talk about the six ways to move stress through the body. They also talk about the consequences if you do not.

If you do not proactively manage your stress, it will store in your body.

Which means, you don’t get the option. It’s not a choice.

Either, you proactively manage your stress as you are freshly experiencing it in your body, OR, your body holds onto it, stores it up, and waits until it can’t handle it anymore and will shut down. The shutting down looks different for every person, but the fact that it’s inevitable is true for us all.

Through their research, they presented six ways that you can move stress through your body. On a regular basis, I walk my clients through these six options to help them figure out their best next step.

• Option 1: Move
  • This is personally my go-to. Move your body. Physically let the stress energy work its way out. This can look like going on a walk, dancing, hitting the gym. There is no right or wrong way to move. Just keep moving until you feel the stress working it’s way out of you physically
• Option 2: A big ol’ cry
  • There is zero shame in crying. Let it all out. Whether it’s a short cry or a long cry, doesn’t matter. It’s an excellent release for your body
• Option 3: Deep Breaths
  • Take a few minutes to sit and breathe. Box breathing is a great and simple option. Inhale for the count of four, hold it for the count of four, exhale for the count of four and then hold it again before you repeat the steps. Five minutes of this exercise can significantly calm your nervous system
• Option 4: Create
  • Whether you like to write, draw, paint, sing, play music, sculpt, journal, it doesn’t matter. Pick any form of art and start creating. It can release the stored up stress by providing an outlet for it to move through your body
• Option 5: Laugh
  • Put on your favorite comedy or grab a friend and find a way to belly laugh. That deep, genuine laughter is not just good for your soul, it’s good for your body too.
• Option 6: Hug
  • Embrace someone who makes you feel safe and loved. If you hug each other for one minute, with both of you firmly planting your feet on the ground, you will feel a physical release. Yes. One entire minute.
  • Over the last two years, I have done this several times with my husband and it’s amazing how quickly I can move from restless and overwhelmed to calm and neutral.

Pick whichever one feels right to you. It doesn’t matter.

Here’s the most important takeaway:

DO NOT IGNORE THE STRESS.

Do not distract yourself from it or try to just power through.

It. Will. Catch. Up. With. You.​

To my Floridian friends, stay safe.

This too shall pass like all the others have as well.

The delayed deadlines, interrupted projects, and inconveniences are not as important as the health and safety of you and your loved ones. Give yourself some grace and keep going.

Much love,

Sophia Hyde

P.S. Managing thoughts and feelings is a huge part of my work. If you are tired and exhausted of feeling a certain way, reach out to me. Whether it’s stress, overwhelm, exhaustion, confusion, frustration or a hundred other emotions, this is what I do. My work is to help you move through these emotions into the peace, clarity, fulfillment, joy, pleasure and other ways you wish you were feeling more. Schedule a call here if you want to talk more about what’s going on.