Just a quick note to check in and see how you’ve all done with the first two weeks of the Best Your Stress challenge. Have you been able to stick with the commitments you’ve made? What have you noticed so far?
Most people have more trouble sticking with stress management programs than they do making dietary changes or following a supplement regime. Adopting a new diet or taking some pills does involve changes in behavior, but it doesn’t challenge our concept of who we are in the world in the same way that committing to a stress management program can.
For example, if you have a belief that your self-worth is directly tied to the amount you get accomplished during a day, you will probably find it very difficult to set time aside for rest and relaxation. Starting a Paleo diet and taking some supplements won’t interfere with this belief – but making time to meditate (which is essentially doing “nothing”) or lie down and do a deep relaxation technique certainly could.
If you’re having trouble sticking with your commitment for the month (or even getting started), here are 3 tips that can help:
- Something is better than nothing. For example, if your goal is to meditate for 30 minutes every morning but you overslept and don’t have time to do the full session, even 5 minutes is better than not doing it at all.
- Don’t beat yourself up. I’m sure you can appreciate the irony of getting really stressed out about stress reduction. It’s counterproductive.
- Begin again. If you didn’t get off to a great start, don’t worry. Just begin again. We have the opportunity to start fresh in each moment.
I’d love to hear more about your experiences so far. What successes have you had? What challenges or obstacles are you facing? And how are you working with them?
Please let us know in the comments section below.