Time to sit down to relax and do absolutely nothing is a difficult task for many. Believe it or not, the environment we live nowadays has made it challenging for many people to enjoy true relaxation. We often feel like we have to be here, there and everywhere. From this task to that fitness routine to the next meeting. It never rests and neither does your brain. Time for sitting down to do nothing seems like an indulgence. If you’re big into keeping fit, then sitting down is even harder for you to do. Trust us, your body and mind need time to do nothing just as much as they need to keep active. If not more!
The downside of stressful situations in life is that we tend to carry physical and psychological tension. If you continue with this tension for long enough, the tensions start feeding off of one another. You might think you’re fine and exempt from taking the time to do nothing. But you’re not because the tension will catch up with you. That’s why too much exercise can sometimes worsen stressful situations because it sends your body into a state of tension. When this happens, both your psychological and emotional tensions can increase as a result. That’s why taking time to relax your body physically can help relieve psychological stress.
These go hand in hand because relaxing your mind can also help you to relax physically which will release tension in your body. That’s why you don’t want to create more stressful situations for yourself. All this does is trigger your stress hormones. Having said that, life is a journey and it takes time to figure out what these may be for you. However, too much exercise or never allowing time for sitting down is generally a quick way to feeling stressed. Our aim is to help you approach challenges in a more proactive and peaceful way.
There are many ways to train yourself to relax, both body and mind. However, there are also specific techniques that will certainly work.
Time To Do Nothing Is What You Need For Better Health
This must be the strangest concept for those who find it easy to do nothing. Surprisingly, it’s a very common problem though. Many people are almost addicted to keeping busy or moving. The issue is that after a prolonged period of time, these people experience extreme levels of stress, exhaustion, or burn out. You might be a high-achiever and it’s particularly common among perfectionists and A-type personalities. But taking time to rest doesn’t make you any less perfect than you are. In fact, those who actively choose to take time off from life, work etc are found to be more successful in the long term.
Watch out, because when you’re busy and overwhelmed, it’s easy to beat yourself up when things don’t work out the way you envisioned. Also, there is no such rule that says you need to carry life’s burdens on your shoulders endlessly. In fact, according to research, these are special moments when it’s important to take a step back. It’s time to be kind and take care of yourself.
If you want to know what being busy is, then go and ask entrepreneurs, athletes or company CEOs. Their daily tasks are endless and things never seem to stop until they do. That’s half the problem. They’re busy people by definition. However, if you don’t make time for self-care all their hard-earned efforts will be lost.
Go And Relax
This is funny because you’d think it’s such an easy command. In reality, it’s really not that easy. Honestly, half the time relaxation is the medicine we truly need for both our minds and bodies. We spend hours researching and YouTubing ways to improve our health through food, fitness, meditation, etc, and still never quite figure ‘life’ out. What’s the point if you still feel exhausted?
That’s why it’s crucial to take time for self-care. The first steps are to be realistic with yourself and come to the realization that you need to relax. If you’re feeling stressed and wondering how to relax, then you need to do the time. The majority of the time, we try to ignore stress and just try to push through it. All in the hope that the stress will dissipate, even while other stressors build up.
Trust us when we say that stress is very sneaky, and it will creep up on you, filtering into many parts of your life. Do not ignore it. Do the time. Many people get caught off-guard by stress because they reach the point of feeling overwhelmed. Sometimes stress is silent too. You may not even realize that it’s taking a toll and that you need to work on managing some stress in your life. Not to mention the effect it’s having on your mind.
Only you can make this call. That’s why it’s so important to know when you have too much stress in your life. This is the time you need to relax.
Time To Take A Break From Exercising
Okay, don’t get me wrong. We all need to keep our bodies fit and healthy. Therefore, regular activity is very beneficial and done within reason it can significantly improve your stress levels. However, many people try to push themselves to extreme levels where they’re exerting excessive amounts of energy in the gym. Combine this with the energy you spend getting through life and work. You’ve got yourself in a pretty stressful and exhausting situation. Remember, you’re human – not a robot.
That’s why if you exercise a lot, be sure to include real rest days. (I say it really because many people still do some kind of walking or ‘light; jogging on rest days.) When you rest your body physically, you’ll notice a significance in stress levels. This is because the time for relaxation interrupts and reverses your stress response. According to research, this can stop a negative feedback cycle where your mind responds to stress by signaling a physical stress response. The tension in your body that can result from this response also increases the levels of emotional stress you feel.
Time To Relax Your Mind
I cannot emphasize this one enough. Your mind is THE most important part of your body and if it’s stressed out and exhausted it will not function optimally. In fact, your mind is what allows you to interpret your daily experiences and if it’s not functioning optimally it could perceive an experience as very stressful. Thoughts and emotions are everything. There might be times when you think you can’t handle the stresses in your life (thought), and experience fear (feeling) as a result. This can then perpetuate your stress response. Often, taking the time to re-examine your thoughts can help you to relax emotionally.
- Consciously try to tell yourself positive affirmations every day.
- Start retraining your mind to think differently so that things you usually perceive as stressful seem less so.
- Get familiar with your cognitive distortions, extremes like all-or-nothing thinking, overgeneralizing, jumping to conclusions, focusing on the negative, labeling, and ‘should’ statements, as well as how to correct them
- Start thinking more optimistically.
Staying Relaxed Requires Most Time
It may not be easy finding time to relax, but it’s a little harder staying relaxed. However, if you practice these techniques regularly then you should be able to avoid stress most of the time. The trick is to identify how to relax again immediately after something stressful happens in the future. That’s why therapists recommend including key features to your lifestyle that will help you find resources for dealing with stressors you face. Once you do, you’ll be less reactive to stressful situations.
- Concentrate on creating a low-stress lifestyle. Avoid tasks or activities that will do the opposite. Take time to learn breathing exercises, regular exercise, meditate, write in a journal, and cultivate relationships.
- Focus on mastering the steps to being more emotionally resilient.
It doesn’t matter how excited you feel about your business, fitness routine, or project. Never miss out on a rich life filled with family time, friends, exploration, and adventure. You can choose how much time you spend on each aspect. However, you never want to be that person who is so stressed out and short of time, that your relationships start falling apart. Why? Because you’re staring at a screen, on the phone, or always at the gym? The world is filled with new opportunities, so don’t get too caught up.
Keep working as work and home as home. Even if you work from home. Give yourself the gift of restorative downtime. You deserve this time. Learn to switch your mind off by thinking about when you’re in motion. You can sprint for short periods of time, but then it’s time for rest.
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Exercise consumed Demi Moore’s life. Many others are starting to share concerns about this too. Exercising also consumes many others and is getting worse with so much fitspo freely available.
