Stress relief

Hello everyone!

I hope your week is off to a good start. Today I thought i'd discuss the topic of stress. 2018 is just 29 days old and I am already losin' it!!!

I've been worried about work, school, medical tests, workouts, weight loss and everything in between. I've always been someone who worries easily and often times, that worry turns to frustration which is a breeding ground for stress. However, I've had some pretty amazing people praying for me and reassuring me of God's sovereignty and control.

Today was a really stressful day for me at work. I must have held my head and rolled my eyes like a million times today! But like I said, i've had some great people surrounding me, many of whom are my co-workers. I will tell y'all, i've been so blessed to work in a place where people love Jesus! It's so refreshing and it's such a community of love and support. But enough about me. Let's talk about stress in general.

Did you know that stress not only affects your mental state but also your physical one? It can cause lack of sleep and subsequent fatigue, headaches, nausea and high blood pressure. It can compromise your immune system and can add to illness and cause your menstrual cycle to be irregular or even stop. That's a lot of negativity so let's just stop stressing! (Yeah right, easier said than done!) But, it's not impossible to do. One of the things that helps me is breathing. Sometimes you have to force yourself to do so. Have you ever heard that song "Just breathe" by Jonny Diaz? I'll put a link below if you haven't but it's definitley worth listening to.

Anyways, back to business. Breathing is one of the ways we can start to relieve stress. There are a couple other things you can do to relieve stress physically: use lavender essential oil ( one of my favorite ways to use this is to buy a linen spray with lavender in it, i'll link my favorite below, and spray it on my pillow and sheets before bed at night; y0u can also use it in a diffuser), get enough sleep (aim for 7-8 hours a night), minimize screen time (this will help with sleep; the blue light from screens stimulates your brain) exercise (the release of endorphins during a workout helps with stress relief), eat healthy food (incorporate lots of fruits, veggies, proteins, and whole grains into your diet), There are other things you can do to combat stress concerning mind. There are some awesome books out there about stress, worry, and anxiety by some awesome Christian authors (one of my favorites is Max Lucado). It also helps to have a daily quiet time and journal. However, the best and most important stress relief is simply to talk to the Lord, We often don't realize the power prayer can have but it is absolutely one of the most powerful things we can do as Christians. So, now that i've said all that, I just have to remember to take my own advice haha. I hope that some of this helps you. Stress wreaks havoc on our bodies and minds and is, much of the time, unnecessary because we blow it way out of proportion. I pray you all have a great, relatively stress-free week!

Love and blessings,

Mariah xo

music video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnjeMwxFuBA

lavender spray: http://www.bathandbodyworks.com/p/lavender-vanilla-pillow-mist-023531114.html#q=lavender%2Bspray&lang=en_US&start=5