Life gets hectic. For most people, this statement is a fact rather than opinion. While it would be nice to drop everything and take half an hour or more to calm your frazzled mind, sometimes life doesn’t allow that. Let’s say you don’t have a ton of time to set aside to de-stress when you really need it. Maybe you’re at work and can’t seem to shake your anxious jitteriness or you’re about to step out the door for an appointment but want to shut your mind off. Who among us has had an anxiety attack at work? You can’t see, but I’m raising both hands and waving them about wildly. Even if you only have a few minutes, having stress-relief exercises can really benefit mental health! I wanted to share with you 5 quick ways to de-stress when you only have a few minutes to calm down before you have to continue whatever you’re doing.
Stress Relief Tip 1: Take a 5 Minute Breather
Sometimes, just stepping away for a few minutes to breathe is all you need. Unplug from everything, try to go somewhere quiet or semi-quiet, and focus on your breathing. Here our a couple of breathing exercises that I like:
Counting Your Breaths
Inhale for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 4 seconds, and exhale for 8 seconds. Do this three or four times and notice if your body and mind have relaxed a bit. You can change up the numbers if you’d like to so it’s more personalized to what you need.
The Breathing Mantra
This one is super simple and one of my favorites. Take a deep inhale while saying in your mind “Inhale” or “Breathing In.” Then slowly exhale while saying in your mind “Exhale” or “Breathing Out.” If you feel comfortable enough where you are, I recommend saying these out loud to yourself. I find that saying them out loud helps me to better focus on my breathing. However, if you’re surrounded by coworkers or others then only do what you’re comfortable with.
Stress Relief Tip 2: Notice Something Interesting
Take a look at your surroundings and see if you can find something pleasant that catches your eye. Perhaps a beautiful painting on a wall or a vivid floral arrangement. Maybe there’s a wonderful view out of a window or a pleasing pattern on some fabric. When you find something, focus on it. Ask yourself what you like about it, does it remind you of something happy? What other small things in this room bring you joy? By the way, you can do this with all your senses if you want to. Find a pleasant sound or smell or feeling and focus on that.
Likewise, if you don’t want to focus on something material, you can try a quick meditation. Close your eyes, choose something to focus on whether it’s the breath, a sound, or a positive thought, and take some time to allow your mind and body to relax.
Stress Relief Tip 3: Stretch and Relax Your Muscles
Take a few minutes to stretch every limb of your body, allowing the muscles to relax after each stretch. Notice your jaw and facial muscles and see if you’re holding tension there. Breathe out and let that tension soften. Sometimes, just by relaxing our muscles, we can tell our minds to relax as well. Stretch your fingers and toes and notice your body relaxing after each stretch. Try to keep your limbs loose after stretching.
You can also use Progressive Muscle Relaxation where you tighten each muscle in your body one at a time and then relax it. You can read more about it here. It’s an effective way of calming both your body and mind.
Stress Relief Tip 4: Imagine Relaxing Scenes
Another effective technique to de-stress is to visualize. I like to imagine relaxing scenes like a beach, a forest path, usually something having to do with nature. The visualization could be whatever relaxes you whether it’s thinking of yourself laying in your cozy bed or relaxing in the tub. If you have your phone handy or are on the computer, you can look up relaxing scenes on Pinterest or Google. Take a bit of time to really visualize the scene and imagine yourself there.
Stress Relief Tip 5: Smile
It may sound weird, but just smiling a little bit can help us relax. I discovered this while listening to a guided meditation. I smiled softly and began to notice just how much my body relaxed from a simple smile. I now use this technique anytime I’m feeling particularly overwhelmed. I take a breath, smile, and it works for me.
If putting a smile on your lovely face isn’t helping, perhaps think of something that does make you smile. Think of funny memes, anecdotes, or jokes. If you have your phone on you, look for things that make you laugh or smile. Be reminded of the amazingness and adorableness of animals with all the wonderful pupper and kitty gifs. There are also so many heartwarming stories to read about human kindness. You may find that it’s a good distraction and in 5 minutes, may help you de-stress a little.
Another way to help you smile is gratitude. I can’t recommend gratitude enough. It’s truly a fantastic tool that helps you remain positive, remain grounded, and remain balanced. List a few things in your head that you’re grateful for and focus on each thing or person or whatever you think of. Why does that person or thing make you so happy? Once again, not only are you distracted, but you’re also shifting your thoughts away from negative to positive which can greatly reduce anxiety.
So there you have it! Five new ways to try to lessen your stress in a matter of minutes. Try them out and see which ones work for you and which ones don’t. I find that each one of these helped me during difficult times of stress and I like to have as many tools to combat anxiety as I can. I’m a big fan of quick ways to reduce anxiety. Even when we really want to, we can’t always dedicate a large amount of time to calming our minds. These stress relief exercises can be done anywhere and can be done in a 5 minutes if you need. There’s been a time or two at work where I’ve been on the verge of an anxiety attack, but can’t leave my desk for more than 10 minutes. I like to use one or two of these practices during such occasions and, when I have more time later in the evening, I’ll prioritize self-care and relaxation that may take a bit longer. If you’ve tried any of these practices out, which ones did you like best? Do you have a practice that you like to do when you’re feeling stressed?