Our Top Ways to Relieve Stress

So often articles talking about ways to relieve stress are filled with new ways to deep breath and do yoga with essential oils in the background. We’re totally not yoga people but if that’s your jam, get it. 

Not everything works for everyone, so we’ve listed a bunch of things that could jive with anyone.  Research suggests that listening to soothing music and practicing breathing exercises can provide stress relief, reducing stress hormones and stress levels—all things anyone can use more of.

Create a Plant-Oasis in Your Home

Creating that gorgeous oasis inside doesn’t just reduce stress, but can improve air quality inside your home and make a house feel more like a home.  One of my favorite parts about having plants in the home is being able to take a moment in the morning to water and care for each of the plants.  

One of my big unhealthy habits is waking up and jumping into work or whatever the day is supposed to bring. Instead, I have 5 minutes of stumbling around watering the plants and checking in on them, helping me to gain presence.

Lush, green house plants

Creating that indoor jungle feel doesn’t take a lot — just a few lush indoor house plants.  Snag a snake plant, a pothos plant or go big with a monstera. 

Snake plants are fast growers, easy to care for, and will eat up any attention you give them.  Pothos are SUPER sassy but also super resilient. Most sabotages at a pothos plants survival can be thwarted—they’re often easy to bring back to life.  

If you really want to go big, snag a few monsteras, or a fiddle leaf fig tree — green, lush, big plants that love indirect light, a little moisture here and there.  

Easy to care for succulents.

Succulents have always been a bit easy to care for, once you know their routine.  A fantastic long term plant, succulents don’t take a lot of work, space or attention. Some can do well in bathrooms without ever watering them.  

Colorful indoor plants.

There’s more than just lush, green plants that are easy to care for.  Snag a few albino plants, or a begonia or two to give your oasis some color. Outside of that snagging a few bouquets from the grocery store can make a big impact in any room.  If you live close to fields and hiking trails, take an afternoon and pick a few wildflowers.

Writing and Journaling to Reduce Stress

Managing stress can make an impact on more than just mental health but also to your blood pressure and heart rate.  Having to deal with stress and feeling overwhelmed can be a lot for any human, but right now? There’s a lot that anyone can feel overwhelmed and stressed by.  Stress and anxiety are super common throughout 

Gratitude journaling

Anytime I’m feeling overwhelmed, jumping into gratitude journaling is my first thought. Diving into gratitude journaling, no matter how difficult it is when I first start allows me to focus on positives. Stress impacts mindset, I often get distracted and dive into negative emotions. By jumping into gratitude journaling I can focus on the positive.

I usually start with something really minimal. I am never one to dive into gratitude statements about anything deep. It usually starts out with “I’m grateful for the dog even though he’s a pain in the ass.”  But the more than I think, I find things, the more I can see the positive.

Writing down your fears

This is probably the most cathartic thing I do before a work day. I write all my fears that i’m holding onto down on a piece of paper, and tear them up.  In writing them down and tearing them up, I’m putting them in a tangible format and detroying them. It’s cathartic and amazing.

Dream journaling

Creating a practice of journaling about your dreams when you wake up gives you a few minutes after you wake up that are dedicated to you. You start your day pouring into your cup, not anyone elses. 

Reducing Stress Through Painting and Drawing

When art just isn’t your thing

Drawing isn’t about becoming the next Picasso or Van Gogh. It’s about you. The whole point of managing stress is to pour into your cup so that things in life don’t impact you as hard.  Pick plants or silly things to draw and just spend 5-10 minutes a day drawing at a time in your day when you’re most stressed.

Adult coloring books for stress reduction

One of my favorite ways to relax on a Friday night is with a coloring book.  There’s so many different options for adult coloring books and I really like kind of the more vulgar and careless ones.  Having a bit of humor in the mix when trying to navigate complex emotions or come down from complex emotions always makes it a little bit easier.

More alternative ways to reduce stress

Pounding pavement and screaming into a pillow

I’m not always a zen and buddhist options work for me type of person. Sometimes for stress reduction, I need something a little more unorthodox.

Having a journal that I can destroy. Tearing up my fears, feeling something tactile can help reduce stress.  I LOVE this journal on Amazon that hits on doing some more cathartic exercises.

Hitting the pavement and blaring some loud, fast-paced music provides me with space where I don’t feel stress and I can have that 15, 20 minutes of peace.  I’m not the greatest runner so it never lasts long.  Having that reset in a workday can take me from spiraling out to feeling good sitting down at the desk once more.

If learning about ways to relieve stress was your jam check out this blog about plants and how to incorporate them into your wedding day.