Do you need help managing your stress?
Oh the irony… It’s stress awareness month.
I haven’t written a blog or social media post yet this month, even though I specialize in treating stress.
Why?
…because I’ve been managing my own stress levels!
I’m sure you know the feeling, you have a long to-do list and struggle to prioritize the tasks. Urgent, but not particularly important, tasks crowd out the things you really want to do, or the things that will have the biggest impact on your life.
The usual advice to manage stress is a list you’ve all seen one thousand times before:
🤎 Eat well
❤️ Sleep well
🧡 Get regular exercise
💛 Spend time in nature
🤎 Learn to say “No”, especially to things you “should” do rather than actually want to.
❤️ Have good tech / screen habits
🧡 Practice deep breathing and / or mindfulness
💛 Connect with friends and family
So why is it so hard to implement the changes and reduce our stress? Sometimes it feels impossible to do these things in a busy life. Not looking after ourselves and our mental health becomes the norm. But, if you don’t take time to learn these skills and manage your health you may find your body takes over, physical symptoms will arise (such as headaches, digestive issues, PMT), and then you have to make time to manage your illness or take time off sick from work.
Stress is healthy in small amounts. It helps us stay focused and sort out problems. We’re just not supposed to live our whole lives in the same state of alert that we did when we had to run away from tigers or lions!
On a personal note, managing my stress levels better this month has allowed me to really engage with and enjoy some quality family time. I’ve had a great time with family and friends over the last two weeks whilst the kids were off school. I was never quite fully present before because I’d been too stressed by rushing around until the last second before any social event. If I’d written this blog post when I had originally planned it, two weeks ago during the Easter holidays, I would have felt that way again. But, I made a different choice this time and I loved it!
When I treat patients with acupuncture we really dig deep into the kind of factors that drive you day by day, in work and play:
☀️What motivates you?
💧What holds you back?
⚖️Sometimes the same emotions can do both!
Asking which emotions are driving your decisions can really help you to address your stress in a different way. Fear of failure, worry, over-thinking, respect or lack of it, frustration, full blown anger. Have you just stopped feeling and engaging with joy or forgotten what makes you happy? It’s complicated but change is always worth it.
I am an expert in treating anxiety and stress using Traditional Chinese Medicine and Five Element acupuncture. My passion is helping people who are overworked and under resourced to manage their stress and anxiety, as well as other physical health issues. As a practitioner working in Oxted I love helping teenagers and adults to improve their quality of life through better understanding of how they interact with the world and the people around them. We start with a few minutes each week of calm relaxation on the couch and gradually work to spread that feeling throughout your whole week.
Would you like some help to reduce your stress levels and transform your life? I would love to be your cheerleader. I recommend new patients start off with a course of 6 treatments to benefit from the cumulative effects of acupuncture. After that time we can re-assess how regularly you need follow up treatments. I’ve got spaces for three new patients starting in the next 2 weeks, so grab your appointments whilst you can! Book now using the link below.
April 17, 2024
