Freeing Parents: Conquering Stress and Anxiety for a brighter tomorrow

Anxiety and stress are some of the biggest contributors to illness and disease (dis-ease of the mind, body and/or spirit) in today's modern lifestyle.

If you look at the blue zones around the world like Dan Buettner has done all of the blue zones have a few things in common such as eating whole unprocessed foods, a sense of community, purpose (ikigai), incidental movement and most of all a way to disconnect from the energy of anxiety and stress.

One of the key things that I have used to help me out with the stressors of life as a busy mother is to build in some time wherever I can for myself. This time is spent alone so I can meditate and clear my head ahead of the day. This way I can look at the things causing me to stress or feel anxious in a non-attached way.

I highly recommend this for you too.

Once you can look at something impartially it's time to bring another tool out of the bag of tricks. This is one that I find particularly helpful in removing stress.

Just ask yourself this one question:

"Is there anything I can do to change the situation that is making me feel anxious?"

If the answer is no then it's decision time!

Questions to ask yourself include:

What if I had just...
What is the current situation if you remove all emotion from it?
How does the current reality affect me; my beliefs, my family?
What can I learn from this?
What have I achieved already on my path to where I currently am?
What is the potential outcome if things go well?
What do I need to do or have happen to achieve the best case outcome?

Write out the answers to the questions when you are in a quiet space, without the constraints or demands of children/dinner time all screaming to be sorted.

When you've got that clear space to think, you can stop think, and get a clearer picture. This should help your body release the anxiety of the scenario. A beautiful thing that can help you cope with the anxiety is the knowledge that the actual anxiety itself is literally your body releasing the stressor and allowing you to go back to your powerful state or the parasympathetic nervous system. It's the off switch for fight or flight!

I would love to hear if there are any other solutions that you have for anxiety. Feel free to comment below; or let me know if you want any further information on this topic.

Let us know what you think in the comments!