Hi friends!
I honestly think this will be different for each person, but for me, it is a reaction in my body. I notice my jaw tensing up, my shoulders coming up to my hear, a shortness of breath, a feeling of restlessness, etc. My body will tell me if I am feeling stressed sooner than my mind will.
This is at least how I’ve chosen to identify stress – but I’d love to hear how others notice or identify when they are feeling stressed.
Because I view stress as a body reaction – my first line of defense is to breathe deeply and calm my senses. I love this because no matter how big or small something seems, I always have those few extra seconds to breath. For me, it seems to help put things into perspective. My friend 
She recommended practicing to breath when you’re not stressed. That way, when challenges come your way, your body will have that reaction built in as muscle memory. I have really taken this to heart and have been trying to work more moments of conscious breathing into my day.
Some people actually set timers on their phone to go off every hour to remind them to breath. There are probably apps specifically designed for this purpose too if you look.
The next thing I like to do is figure out exactly why I’m feeling stressed. Sometimes it is really obvious… X happened, and now I’m worried about it. Even then, I try to spend a little time to dig into why that instance triggered me.
For example… I used to really let my boss stress me out. I gave this some thought recently and took myself down a line of questions. Why was I letting him have more power over me? What is the worst that can happen if I stand up for myself or give myself more boundaries?
Getting to a “worst case scenario” can oftentimes help me identify if I am stressing about things that are out of my control. So the worst thing that could happen is that I would get fired. That’s really not that terrible.
Using this line of questioning could be applicable to a lot of different situations.
This is the ultimate question I always have to ask myself. Can I actually control the outcome of this stressful situation. If the answer is no… then I do my best to let it go. I gave the example of my boss earlier, but maybe money stresses you out – or current world events. Whatever it is, be honest with yourself about how much you can do to change the situation. If you CAN, then maybe spend some time journaling what that could look like to get out of that situation.
I wrote this article mainly as a jumping board for a discussion. I truly think we can all learn from each other and support one another. There is a lot of power in coming together and sharing our thoughts and ideas! So, how do you define stress – and what do you notice most when it starts to creep in? When you are feeling stressed out, what do you do?
I look forward to chatting with you all in the comments!
With Love,
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