Do you ever experience stress or overwhelm? I’m sure you do. To relieve your stress, allow yourself a simple pleasure.
Life often hands us more than we think we can handle, but we handle it anyway. And then we feel negative emotions, and our body responds by producing harmful hormones, increasing our blood pressure, and generally making us feel bad and become less healthy.
At the moment I’m away from home caring for my 91-year-old mother who broke her hip and had surgery. At the same time, I’m handling my client load, managing my blogs, and trying to do a bit of work on other projects as well.
It’s not easy. It’s stressful.
To relieve that stress, especially when I have no extra time, I indulge in simple pleasures. This could be a bowl of my favorite ice cream (I know…not a healthy choice.), a walk by the lake, a few moments to read a book, or a little time to listen to a song I like. Maybe I call a friend, watch an inspirational video, or look at the sun set.
My mother likes to watch birds, so I hung up a bird feeder near her window at the rehab center. I thought seeing the birds might relieve her stress. I also took a video of her dog, which I showed her; she misses her dog, but the video made her smile. It provided a simple pleasure.
What could you do today that would make you smile? What do you enjoy? Reduce your stress by spending even 10 minutes indulging in your simple pleasures.
What’s your experience of using simple pleasures to reduce your stress and overwhelm? Tell me in a comment.
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