To help give peace of mind, these are the 5 most effective anti-stress habits in my nightly evening routine. x

Let’s confront the white elephant in the room that follows us around all day: stress.

More specifically? How to beat it into submission.

A common denominator that connects us is busy schedules that include long to-do lists, social and work engagements, piles of laundry, dishes to be cleaned and just about everything else under that sun that sits on your plate.

This year, I’ve learned that organizational tips and tricks aren’t enough to help keep the stress at bay. What I really needed to do? Build a better daily routine that helps me stay calm and on top of my schedule.

Most Effective Anti-Stress Habits

Picture yourself tossing and turning at night — unable to shut off your brain and peacefully drift off to sleep. If this scene is familiar to you, I’m here to help!

Extensive trial and error has helped me cultivate some habits that effectively ease stress. And the best news of all is that they’re actually pretty easy! They are simple yet effective tips you can incorporate into your daily routine to help you feel more on top of everything going on in your life.

MOST EFFECTIVE ANTI-STRESS HABITS

Gratitude Journal

Keeping a daily gratitude journal isn’t just one of the most effective anti-stress habits – it also helps me maintain a positive outlook. (Which to be honest, isn’t always easy!)

It’s a habit I’ve come to rely on so much that I even designed a journal you can purchase on Amazon to help make this practice as easy as possible. Taking a few minutes to quietly sit back and reflect on the day – listing both big and small blessings – improves my frame of mind. It’s also a great practice to help keep me focused and I highly recommend giving it a try.

Breathing and Stretching

The human body is a beautiful thing but it can also hold onto things you’d rather release. That’s why another one of the most effective anti-stress habits is to simply take a timeout and stretch.

You can do this in the morning, at your desk, in the evening or all of the above. Take 3-5 minutes to silently breathe deeply and stretch your body — listening and leaning into areas holding onto stress. For me it’s always the back of my neck, shoulders and legs.

For maximum results, I’ve also taken to gently massaging a topical CBD balm into these tense areas. Lazarus Naturals is my go-to and the Lavender balm is particularly great!

Maintaining Boundaries with Your Phone

Cellphones are both a blessing and a curse. They help us stay instantly connected with those in our circles as well as on top of real-time news, emails and messages.

That said? All that access can easily blur boundaries between work, family and me time. Fortunately we can easily establish better relationships with our phones by taking advantage of the ability to set screen-time limits for specific apps, limiting push notifications and utilizing downtime features.

One of the most effective anti-stress habits for me has been setting limits on social media apps that often suck me in (i.e. Twitter and Instagram) as well as limits on news. I also recommend disabling push notifications that shoot messages you throughout the day — pulling your attention from where it should be spent. As minor as those notifications may be, they create a sense of stress as the mount.

Better Monitoring Your Finances

Personal finances understandably create stress — particularly when faced with large unexpected expenses, struggling to stay on top of student loans, etc.

I am by no means an expert but I have making a conscientious effort to better monitor finances. It’s been helpful at managing spending and setting myself up for success come tax-season. It’s also been one of the most effective anti-stress habits in my weekly and monthly routine.

Here are a few recommendations:

Create a monthly budget spreadsheet that includes dates of when all of your bills are due, when any automated payments are made to subscription services, etc. with dates and dollar amount
Color code this spreadsheet by pay periods
Setup automated deposits into your savings account, IRA, etc. on pay days so you are investing in yourself first with no second thought
On each pay day, review what bills are due within that period so you are fully aware
Every Monday, review your online banking and ~~strike through~~ expenses on your spreadsheet when they hit your checking account

I also recommend setting up an expense spreadsheet that will help you come tax-season. For example, create a spreadsheet on costs related to medical or other expenses and update it routinely so all those details are ready to go when it’s time to prepare your taxes.

Schedule Time For Yourself

Another one of the most effective anti-stress habits I’ve adopted is adding time for myself to my schedule. Stop fitting “me time” in whenever you think of it and start adding blocks on your calendar that are dedicated to monitoring your finances, planning your week and fitting in forms of self-care like exercise and meditation.

From there, make a rule that you are not allowed to cancel on yourself. You can “reschedule” if something else comes up, but make that time a priority.

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