Fight Stress With A Healthier Lifestyle

I previously posted a little blurp about what I learned helps with finding happiness and peace of mind, and lately I've been looking for more healthy habits to help out with it all. What it all comes down to is life is what you make it, and if you have no means to fight against stress and negativity, then that is just sad. I hate to be blunt about it, but its true. Who doesn't want to feel better about life? Who doesn't want a little piece of happiness that you earned yourself?

Every little aspect of your life can cause stress and anxiety, even when you may not think about it. What you eat, how you sleep, the way you spend your free time, your work, your friends. Everything created in this world that you interact with may have a cause, and you can choose how to react and handle it. I've been doing quite a bit of research on the matter, and although a lot of it is diet based (which I will do an entry on soon), I've learned quite a bit more that you can do with your daily habits

• Exercise really can help you in every aspect of your life. It gets your blood and heart pumping, and reminds your body is alive and strong. It not only wakes you up, but it can help fight against stress, and certain diseases such as osteoporosis, heart disease, and cardiovascular disease. What is a little less stress like knowing you are treating your body to something it deserves?
• If you don't have time for exercise, take an extra step. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, walk to work instead of driving. I walk 50 minutes to work, and 50 minutes back every day, and although it is taxing after a days work, it also feels far more rewarding than taking the bus or making someone drive me. A good 9 times out of 10, I will refuse a ride that is offered to me.
• Take long walks! Very much related to the upper two, taking a long walk can help you burn calories, as a form of exercise, but I also find it incredibly relaxing. Walking is my thinking time, where I can refresh my mind, remind myself of my goals and dreams, or maybe even work through an issue in my head that I'd much work out on my own than speaking to someone. It lowers my stress levels, and who knows, if you try it out, you might find it will lower yours as well.
• Regulate your sleeping habits. It may be difficult at first, but once you make yourself go to bed earlier and wake up earlier, you will find it far more rewarding than late nights and late mornings. I never really knew that my sleeping habits had such a negative effect on me, not only physically, but mentally, until I started sleeping less and earlier. I use to stay up as late as 4-5am, and wake up around 2-3pm the next day if my schedule allowed it, and I always felt sluggish and exhausted. Now that I go to bed around 10-11pm and wake up around 6-7am, I feel so lively and proactive. I find I get more done during the day. Here's some tips and facts about bad sleeping:
• Earlier bedtime helps avoid late night snacking. Remember, the later you eat, the slower you digestive system is.
• Studies say that the earlier you go to bed, the more you sleep through the night uninterrupted.
• It can help ease or avoid insomnia.
• The average adult should be getting no more and no less than 7-8 hours of sleep. That means that 8.15 hours is too much, and 6.75 hours is too little.
• If your alarm goes off once, GET UP. The more you press the snooze bar, the more you are training your body to sleep more than it needs. Methods to help get up the first time:
• Will it. I know I can, but I know that not everyone can.
• Have someone help you. Your parent, your significant other.
• Put your alarm where you have to get up to turn it off. This use to help me back in high school, because often times, once you get up, you are up. 
• To go to bed earlier, avoid sitting in front of any kind of media for more than thirty minutes before you go to bed. No TV, no tablets, no computer, no cell phones.
• Try reading a book for half an hour
• Stretch for half an hour
• Go on a long walk
• Don't eat with in 1-2 hours before you go to bed. Again, the later you eat, the slower your digestive system. Also food gives you a little bit of energy, and causes you to want to stay up later. Perhaps, instead, drink a cup of tea!
• You will find that if you wake up earlier, you will have a much more alive and productive day!
• Remember to take time out of every day to do something YOU ENJOY. I mean it, guys. If you take even half an hour out every day to draw or write, play with your dog, go on a walk, it will make you feel so much better. Because its something you love doing, and you aren't neglecting it otherwise.
• On the same note, don't spend so much time thinking, spend more time doing. I often find myself thinking about a project or something I need to get done, and perhaps spending so much time thinking about it that it never really does get done. I know so many people do this, but is it really worth the time wasted, thinking about it? How much do you think you'd actually get done if you just sat down and did it? And how rewarding it would be after its finally done? You need to be your own self motivator. For example, I've spent probably over a year about starting a real blog, and I'm just now doing it. I feel bad for waiting that long, but now that I'm actually working on it, I feel pretty awesome. :3
• Plan it. One thing I do to calm down is list making. This, also, I have found, has caused me to make a lot of 'To Do' lists, which later morphed into a time management schedule. It has made my life a little bit more organized and I enjoy it very much. Every night, I write a list of things I want to accomplish, or need to get done the next day, and anything that doesn't get done after that day is over, gets transferred to the next day until it eventually is done. I have found that less things get pushed back if I kind of obligate myself to do it. I've found this to cause me much less stress as well.
• Purge your surroundings. I recently downsized so dramatically that I have a 3rd of the belongings I use to, and my stuff continues to become less and less. Hording and clutter causes stress, and yes, I understand that you love little novelties, but don't you think since its shoved in a box that you probably shouldn't keep it around when it could have a better home? Do you need all of those silly love notes from your former heartbreaks? How often are you going to look at your elementary school projects? Are you really going to read that book? Don't think 'eventually'. 'Eventually' to me means that you will only look at it when you are moving and accidentally come across it, have a brief feeling of nostalgia, or want to do that project, then toss it back into the clutter where you will not think about it again for another year or two when you accidentally come across it once more. I'm not saying throw out every memory. I have a little tiny shoe box of old memories I was willing to keep, wrapped up in a quilt my grandma made me when I was a baby, and my dad's old old jacket. But that's all I'm willing to keep.
• Laughter is the best remedy. I truly believe this. So many people roll their eyes when someone says 'Laughter is the best medicine', but since when has momentary joy and laughter caused any stress aside from a little pain in the abdomen? In my opinion, that pain is totally worth it, because I always feel great after a good laugh. How you obtain your smiles is up to you, you know you better than I do. Grab your favorite comedy, your dearest friend, your puppy, whatever makes you smile the most.
• Friends. Even if you are a bit of a hermit, like me, its good to surround yourself with friends, and even go out with them from time to time. But make sure they are people you enjoy, who make you happy. Many of us have friends we 'tolerate', who don't make us feel very good, or don't have a lot in common with us, and I think that is just cruddy. I'm not saying that you should stop talking to them, but that you should reach out, spread your horizons of friendships, be it locally, or online if that makes you more comfortable, and find friends who do make you happy, who you can spend a lot of time with and not be annoyed at, who have things in common with you, who make you smile.
• Judge less, be kinder to those around you. Remember that if you look at someone negatively, that even if they notice it or not, they feel some of that negativity that you are sending to them. Many people feel self conscious and they don't know why, because those around them are always judging and feeding them bad energy. Judge people less, smile more, compliment more, and you will notice that someone with there head usually hung will look up and be a little more confident. Positivity spreads, and you feel a little better when you make someone else feel a little better, even if they are a stranger.

I'll tie it up for now, but I really wanted to share some more things to do to help promote good mental health.

I've been trying to do daily outfits, but my place is still a mess with boxes after the move, annnnnd my phone is broken, so aside from my boyfriend's big clunky tablet, and my bad webcam, I don't have the best system for photo taking. -sigh- I'm doing some skin care steps, I will let you know how that works out as well.