Turn Stress Into Something Positive #Stress #Wellbeing

We’ve all experienced those days or weeks that wipe us out.

As we become bogged down by work, family life and a hectic social scene, we may begin to forget certain things such as a friend’s birthday or to cancel a hair appointment. Neither of these scenarios are life threatening and certainly shouldn’t tip us over the edge, but when we take too much on, the cracks begin to show.

Stress is a part of who we are. We deal with pressure, deadlines and multi-tasking regularly.

There have been many books and articles written on the benefits of a certain amount of stress in our lives. It can keep us on our toes, motivated to succeed and help us focus on an important task.

However, regardless of whether we believe that stress is good or bad, it can still have a detrimental effect on our health and wellbeing.

When we deal with an excessively stressful situation our body produces adrenaline and cortisol to help us deal with the threat – this is our fight or flight response. 

My Organised Life Series - Reduce Stress by Prioritising Tasks

Welcome to 'My Organised Life Series', a feature where we will be looking at various ways to organise yourself and streamline your life.  By the time January 1st rolls around, you will be ready and raring to take on the New Year.

Week 3: Reduce Stress by Prioritising Your Tasks

You can read the first article HERE – Creating a Home Workspace

You can read the second article HERE – Time Management

I have a confession.  I am so unorganised this year that my gift buying, wrapping, and writing of Christmas cards is still incomplete.  Deep down I know that I’m creating a false stress because if I just got on with it, then I would be able to enjoy the festive season.

The stack of unwritten cards sitting on my desk taunts me daily.  I sit at my computer and plough through my to-do list, but at the end of every day I still haven’t written the cards, and I end up adding this task to tomorrow’s list.

5 Tips For Releasing Anxiety

After having my daughter, thirteen years ago, I haemorrhaged and had to have a blood transfusion.  It was during this time I discovered I was in the A+ blood group.  Over the years that followed, I began to understand how much my blood type impacted on my life. 

According to the research of Dr. Peter J.D’Adamo, for his book Eat Right For Your Type, the ability to reverse stress and its negative effects lies in our blood type.  For me, this means that I react to the first ‘alarm’ stage of stress.  My adrenals become super-charged, producing anxiety, irritability and hyperactivity.  My immune system gets weaker, and my nervous system becomes more sensitive.  I then become unable to fight infections.  As a Type A I have a more tightly wired system – in blunt, I bottle up all my anxiety! 

Using a Dropbox to Release Worry, Fear and Anxiety

Ever thought of using a Dropbox to help with anxiety, worry or fear?  Before you all rush off to your laptops and sign up for this service - although who wouldn’t want a place to stash a gazillion photos, doc, videos and files and have instant access? - I’m not referring to the technical Dropbox.  I’m talking about a physical one – a jar, shoebox, or even an envelope, where you can drop off your worries.

I know some of my friends use a gratitude jar.  To use this, they jot down anything they are grateful for during that day or week.  The idea is to empty the jar at the end of the year and have a host of happy and grateful memories to remind yourself of how blessed you are.

The drop off box works in a similar way.  Had a bad day? Jot down why it was bad, who upset you and how you feel about it.  Screw up the piece of paper and drop it in the jar.  Add every worry, fear or anxious thought you have into it.

How To Live a Life Full of Motivation

Life can swerve in a different direction at any point, sometimes you are ready for it but more often than not it flings you unceremoniously from a moving vehicle.

This is what happened to me, but as I look back I see that it wasn't a sudden swerve, more of a winding road that I didn't realise I could get off.

Getting back on track took a huge amount of patience and dedication but with the support of my family I did it. 
For seven years I was trapped in an emotionally and physically abusive marriage.  I was overweight, exhausted and miserable.  In 2004 I found the courage to leave, packing my two, three and five year old children in the car and driving away.

Top 5 Tips to a More Confident You

Have you ever been on a diet?  You feel determined and inspired for that first week or two, and maybe even a little motivated by the initial 3lb weight loss, but just one small thing can undo all that hard work and you end up heavier than you were before you started.


Confidence is a lot like dieting.  It is a delicate balance to maintain that confident persona and one small thing can tip the scales.

I was an incredibly confident young girl, always eager to volunteer, loudest in my class and life and soul of the party.  I seemed to have an endless supply of confidence and energy.

This was stripped away from me over time by a very clever individual.  My ex-husband didn't go all Rambo on me and break my spirit in one go, he took his time and gradually chipped away at my confidence and self-esteem until there was nothing left of the old me.

Why You Should Love Your To-Do List

Ticking off the goals on your resolution list can leave you feeling elated, but what happens when you have that one goal that gets left behind, forgotten or constantly added to the 'do it next year' list.

'Do my ironing' has made every one of my resolution lists since 1998 and guess what?  I never did get it all done!  This year however, I decided enough was enough and that particular goal was going to be scratched from the list.  I then wrote a blog post about Thinking Outside The Box and suddenly I had my answer - I handed over responsibility to an ironing service.  I cannot begin to tell you how good it felt to relinquish that goal.

How To Think Outside The Box

Our brain is very complex and a single thought is enough to re-wire it.  Thinking outside the box can help us be more creative and improve our well-being.  'Thoughts become things - pick the good ones' is a favourite quote of mine and an affirmation I try to use daily.



Taken from Pinterest

It really is as simple as thinking happy thoughts to be able to shift a bad mood or change a situation to your advantage and yet millions of people get stuck feeding negative thoughts and attracting more negativity in to their lives.  I saw this in action earlier this week.

Standing in a shop queue on Monday I listened to a conversation between the cashier and a woman with her young son.  'Can't wait for him to go back to school,' she said as her son nibbled on his fingernails, 'school holidays are a nightmare, they get bored and under my feet and I count the days before I can send them back again.'  She packed her bags and departed with her young, thoroughly depressed son shuffling along behind her.

How to Silence Your Inner Critic - For NaNo and Beyond

As we approach week three of NaNoWriMo, thousands of people are frantically hammering out a novel at kitchen tables across the globe.

With my children watching over my shoulder and providing an audible countdown, I hit 50,296 on the Nano-a-thon on the 9th November.  It was the most incredible feeling and having my kids jumping around singing, 'mum did it' was, as MasterCard would say, Priceless!

My characters had become part of the family and although I was ecstatic to have accomplished the challenge, I was a little bit sad when I typed that last word.

Fortunately my NaNo draft is only book one of a trilogy so I shall be dusting them all off again for book number two.

10 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy

Back in March my blog featured in our local paper.  The reporter asked me which challenge I thought would be the toughest - interesting question.  At the time I said October's challenge, to be grateful and happy.

In times of stress and worry, happiness can often be the first emotion we switch off and I see this all too often with my clients.  You may ask yourself, 'how can I be happy when I've got too many bills to pay?'  You may wonder how it's possible to smile when there isn't anything left to smile about.

Watching The Pride of Britain awards the other evening made me smile (and cry).  These amazing people are just the same as you or I and yet despite what 's going on in their own lives they still have a smile and a kind word for everyone.  Inspirational people indeed.

Being Grateful

Happy October! 

Another month has drawn to a close and we continue to inch ever nearer to snow covered roads and the jolly fat man in the red suit squeezing his way down the chimney stack.

So far I have completed nine month's worth of challenges with a different kind of 'baby' emerging at the end - a blog baby.  My blog has become like a fourth child for me, it needs nurturing , feeding, cleaning and encouraged to grow.  I am Grateful that this has been possible with the help of my readers.

My October challenge is to be 'Happy & Grateful'.  A seemingly easy challenge - or is it?  Can you be happy if you've just been made redundant or were involved in an accident.  Can you be grateful if your outgoings are more than your incomings and you struggle to pay bills?

15 Top Tips for a Balanced Life

Working as a holistic health practitioner means I am privileged to be a part of someone's life journey - that could be a road to better health, much needed relaxation or an understanding ear and support.

I am very vocal about my own life and don't hide the highs and lows I have experienced, in fact I use these experiences to help me be a better practitioner.  I left a physically and emotionally abusive marriage with three children under the age of 5, to say I had hit rock bottom would be an understatement, but I did it, I dragged myself kicking and screaming back into reality.

As I recovered and tried to find myself I learnt how to laugh and smile again, I learnt from others how to interact, trust and love again.  It's quite incredible how much we do learn from those people that surround us on a daily basis.

How Learning to Knit Reduces Stress

I have a long list of things I would like to learn, my very own bucket list if you like.  I would love to learn how to take wonderful photographs, to be able to speak Italian, to paint a picture...the list goes on.

Thanks to my resolution challenge I can now tick one thing off my list - knitting!  Yes, at the sprightly age of 41 I have finally picked up a pair of needles and clickety clacked away to my hearts content. 

Don't ask me why I wanted to learn to knit. 

How to Help the Environment with One Simple Switch

What a great week to do a challenge; I have been car free for seven days and this particular challenge happened to coincide with a UK heatwave, yay.

When I decided to include, 'appreciate what I have by giving something up' as one of my resolutions I knew each item would have to be important, otherwise where's the challenge?

So what could I give up for a week that I would miss?  No, it wasn't chocolate.

Boost your Inner Sunshine in One Easy Lesson

Happy July!

As I type this week's post the sun is streaming through the window and the weather man has promised a spell of sunshine, ice cream's, paddling pool's and a hose pipe ban - okay so I made up the last bit!

What a wonderful way to start my July challenge,  this month I have to 'be grateful for what I have by giving something up'.

Sounds simple enough doesn't it?  Over the next month I shall be giving up my car, Facebook and the television, this week I gave up the hardest thing of all - no, it wasn't chocolate.

Clear Your Clutter in 4 Easy Steps

June is here and the sun is shining which helps to make everything look and feel so much brighter.  As I am still slightly traumatised by my encounter with the zip wire last week I am very pleased to note that June's resolution is so much calmer.

Adopt Better Habits.

Boring!

I came up with this challenge when I realised how I'd let my recycling slip, so this goal was a way to get back on track.  As I gave it some extra thought I came to the conclusion that recycling my rubbish was a pretty lame topic to cover and all my readers would be nodding off before I'd managed to soak the
label off an old baked bean tin.

Stress Busting Workshop - How One Hour Helped with Exam Stress in a Junior School

As tempted as I was to break open the bubbly and celebrate the end of my alcohol free month, I refrained so I had a clear head for the start of my May resolution challenge.

'Do Something I've Never Done Before.'

On paper this challenge was going to be fairly straight forward.  I have a VERY long bucket list and all I needed to do was to choose my favourite four, but the Universe had other ideas and suddenly my well laid plans were up in the air.

I can't complain though as the challenge which presented itself to me was:-

1. Definitely something I've never done before
2. An opportunity I couldn't pass up