Time. It seems to be the root cause of all stress in life. If we only had more time, we could finally finish everything we need to complete. If we only had more time, we would then have the extra time needed to breathe for a moment. It’s easy to find ways to improve our well being after dedicating hours to the task. It’s easy to see the catch-22 involved. The lack of time is the very thing causing the majority of our stress, so spending more of it stresses us out just thinking about it. Hours seems quite a feat, but 15 minutes– that seems a bit more manageable. I’ve included three simple ways to improve your emotional health, not just for the moment, but as a lifestyle change.
15-Minute Ways to Improve Emotional Health
- Schedule Overthinking. Give yourself 15 minutes of honest overthinking. Let your mind run rampant, which might just be something you’ve been denying yourself. If you stop here, it would only be causing greater stress. At this point, you’ve probably picked up on an area that seems to be plaguing your mind more so than other problems. Grab a journal or your iPhone notes and really think through what you’re worried about. What is the worst-possible scenario? Create a plan for how you could prevent it from happening and another one to map out a solution. As you work through how you would manage it, you can show yourself that you could manage the problem.
- Rant. Find a close friend, and ask them if you could spill your guts. Put in place some boundaries before you get started. Do you want advice after or do you just want to get something off your chest? I would personally choose someone who would feel comfortable enough to reciprocate. I suggest that you literally set the timer, so you don’t cause stress for your friend, as well. I assure you that the 5 minutes will go by fast, but you’ll find that you can get out a whole lot of information in those 5 minutes. I would suggest that you leave names out of it, if a person is stressing you out. Also, please note that I mean this as a way of venting stress, but not as a substitute for professional help.
- Feed your soul. Find something that makes you feel rejuvenated. A bubble bath (not my favorite, but to each her own), journaling, looking at a magazine, reading a book, or taking a quick stroll. Set the timer on your phone and determine to not start any tasks or errands.
