Social media, e-mails, work, family life, financial problems, and health problems can take a toll on our mental health and physical health. The amount of stress that people experience on a regular basis can be detrimental to their health. While you can control outside events, you can control some situations in your life. Some of the following habits will help you live a stress-free life.
Determine Your Needs and Wants
The key to living a stress-free is figuring out what you need and what you don’t need. That means getting rid of the things that don’t serve you and introducing the things that do. Not being able to determine your needs and wants can create clutter in all parts of your life – from your home life to your financial debt. For instance, a stair lift can help you get up those stairs easily when you start to have mobility issues. This would be a definite need.
You’ll notice that you spend more money on the things you don’t need, such as materialistic things and frivolous shopping trips. Instead, pay down your debt and allocate your expenses on the rent or mortgage, insurance payments, and utilities and bills.
Take Control of Your Debt
The first step should lead you to take control of your debt. The second key to living a stress-free life is to eliminate the debt in your life. One of the biggest forms of stress is the amount of financial debt people have. Getting a call from a debt collector at work is enough to cause a panic attack. Whether your debt is from credit cards, medical bills, or student loans, knowing that you owe that money back is stressful. Consider refinancing your student debt to pay it off sooner. Just make sure you compare student loan refinance rates to choose the one that works best for you.
Start a budget and create a successful financial plan. This can be done with the help of a financial planner. Working on your financial plan can help you set short-term and long-term calls. It’ll also make the dream of living a debt-free life a reality. After you pay off these bills, you’ll feel more in control of your finances.
Save Up for a Rainy Day
Emergencies and other unexpected things happen in life. Sometimes money is available, and other times it’s not. As the saying goes, you should save your money for a rainy day. Whether it’s for car repair or washing machine repair, these unexpected expenses can raise your stress levels.
By saving a little bit of your paycheck, you can create an emergency savings account to handle the unexpected things that come your way. Most experts recommend having an emergency savings account of $1,000 to start. In addition to your emergency fund, you should also have a regular savings account that can pad you with additional income.
De-Clutter Your Home
Clutter adds stress to your life. If your home is messy, you know how embarrassing it can be when unexpected guests show up. Some of the day-long cleaning sessions can add more stress to your life. The problem isn’t the mess, it’s spending too much time cleaning all of that stuff in your home.
Have regular de-cluttering sessions of 15 to 30 minutes per day. It’ll make your home easier to clean and to maintain. You’ll feel better knowing to give away some of those items to people who can use them.
Focus on One Thing at a Time
Multitasking has become a big part of today’s culture. It’s easy to multitask on the computer, smartphone, or tablet. But, when you try to juggle many different tasks at once, you end up feeling more stressed out than before. Instead, focus on one thing at a time.
When you cook, enjoy the taste and smell of the ingredients. Read the recipe and ignore the phone ringing or any other distractions. At work, give 100% focus on the task at hand. Reduce distractions by shutting off your social media notifications and working on one thing at a time. This leads to increased productivity and fewer mistakes.
Enjoy the Present Moment
Technology makes it easier to communicate, but having too many devices can make you lose touch with reality. Most people spend most of their day staring at their phones. To enjoy the present moment, spend more time with your friends and family members.
Take some time out of your day to unplug from your devices. Enjoy a cup of coffee on your porch at sunrise, or listen to the sound of the birds chirping. It’s a great way to spend some time alone without the constant need to read e-mails or social media notifications.
Some of these habits take time to build. Over time, it can lead to a simpler and healthier lifestyle. Implementing some of these tips can take a few weeks. Allow yourself to focus on one habit at a time. Only choose two or three things from this list and slowly build from there.
