I know this may seem a bit off topic, but wellness is not just eating everything organic and drinking green juice. You can drink all the green juice in the world but if you’re stressed and anxious and feeling overwhelmed, it won’t do your body as much good as it should. It is in fact scientifically proven that stress may cause a severe negative impact on one’s body and overall mental and physical healthy. Be it digestive issues, gastric ulcers, skin conditions, immune system deficiencies or just feeling run down, depressed, demotivated and constantly tired, stress and anxiety may very well be the culprits.

I meet a lot of different people daily doing what I do, from all different walks of life all with very different stories, but the one thing most people have in common seems to be stress and anxiety. It’s as though we are chasing our own tails and can’t keep up with our own lives. We’re all so busy. The cause of stress may be different, but the effect is the same; An overwhelming feeling of not doing enough, not having enough time, wanting to keep up with everything we supposedly should and a sense of dissatisfaction with our lives.

So, why are we so addicted to being so busy?

Whether it’s adding on to our never ending to do lists or working ourselves to the bone, I feel like we’re on a constant time crunch. Be it trying to further your career while building a future with your significant other, look for a new job, start up a new venture, trying to maintain a household, have kids before a certain age, find a few minutes to yourself to unwind and maybe even answer some text messages, make an effort to eat right and find time to exercise meanwhile trying to maintain some form of a social life, it can be a bit too much!

I don’t know about you, but life is flying by and finding time to relax, unwind and actually enjoy it is not the easiest thing in the world for me. Don’t get me wrong, I am incredibly grateful that I have been blessed with a good life, but I do find myself struggling to keep up with it at times and I do also find myself unable to relax and always seem to add on to the things I want to do. Whether it’s furthering my studies in nutrition, blogging, trying to excel at work, making time for friends and family and just keeping up with everything is at times a bit draining.

Learning to prioritize and evaluate your life and your choices and why we do certain things is really important. Anxiety is not something new to me, I have dealt with it, very privately I might add, in the past and here is what helped me overcome it and keep it in check throughout the years.

LEARNING TO SAY NO – I know this may sound so basic and even silly but learning to say no to things I don’t feel like or want to do is extremely liberating. I personally feel like I don’t want to let the people I love down and tend to say yes to things to make them happy. However, I find that when I am totally honest and just say that I don’t feel like doing this that or the other because I am feeling drained and anxious and want some time to relax, most people will understand and be totally OK with it.

EAT RIGHT AS MUCH AS YOU CAN, BUT TREAT YOURSELF EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE – eating healthy is a big one for me (you may have guessed that by now) but having a clean (ish) diet, low in processed foods and high in nutrients does really help. Nourishing your body with the right foods will literally have a chemical effect in your body that in turn effects your mood (for the better) which can make a world of difference. This is not instant, you can’t expect to drink one green juice and feel calm all of a sudden but it you’re consistent with eating healthy, nourishing foods, I promise you, you will feel better. Having said that, treating yourself to a nice juicy steak and a glass of wine or two followed by some chocolaty goodness – or whatever your fave meal is – every once ins a while won’t hurt 😉

EXERCISE – I know, another thing you don’t really have time for, right? But seriously now, I’m not saying you have to go to the gym five days a week, even though you could if you wanted to, I’m just saying MOVE YOUR BODY. We’re not build to sit at a desk for ten hours daily. Go out for a walk, follow a yoga routine at home, spare 20 mins a day to move, in one way or another, but be consistent with it. Again, exercising will chemically change your body. The release of endorphins will literally make you happier. There’s no arguing this, exercise is the cheapest and most effective anti depressant and anti anxiety tool which is so easy to exploit all you have to do is MOVE.

MEDITATE – or at least try to. I don’t think that anyone who knows me personally would use ‘calm’ or ‘zen’ to describe me. I’m all over the place, full of energy and some days can barely get my thoughts together because I have too many things going on in my head. But, spending a few minutes, sitting quietly listening to a guided meditation (there are many to choose from on YouTube and several apps and websites you can use) really does calm me down. Give it a try, what do you have to lose? And if it doesn’t work for you, I would recommend trying again, at least a couple more times, because for me, it took a few tries to get into and now I find it very helpful.

BE PRESENT – I’m quite an obsessive character, so I tend to worry about the future quite a bit and also replay things that happened in the past in my head over and over and wish they went differently. I try my best not to do that; THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IS NOW, the past is gone and there is nothing we can do about it. Learn from it and move on. The future is not promised to any of us, so worrying about it is a complete wast of time. Just live your life being true to yourself and doing what you feel is right and feels good. Trust the rest will follow. Finally, let go of anything that no longer serves you. Let it go. Just let it go. Allow yourself time to heal and then allow yourself to move on. It’s sounds easy, it’s not. But work on it anyway.

LEAVE ROOM FOR JOY – whatever that means to you, whether it’s spending time with a loved one, pampering yourself, or going out for a good meal, do that!

SEEK HELP – I am in no way a mental health specialist, nor am I trying to give unsolicited advice. However, I do feel that we tend to lead lives that are not making us happy and that stress and anxiety are big issues for many of us, so I’m sharing what helps me, in hopes that if you too feel the same way, you will at least know that you are not alone and might find this useful. I feel like mental health needs to be talked about more. If you’re feeling stressed, overwhelmed, depressed and anxious, reach out to a friend, family member or a mental health specialist; it’s nothing to be ashamed of!

We are all in this together, everyone has ups and downs. You’ll get through this ❤

Thank you for taking the time to be here and read this 🙂 If you liked this post, be sure to like it and follow to be notified every time I post ❤ Comment below if you’d like to see anything from me, would love to know how you feel on the topic of wellness and anxiety.

Until my next post, be well xXx