De-Stress…NOW!

In the past year, I left a job in Texas, sold our house, moved my family to Arkansas, started a new job, launched a website, joined a new church, experienced the holiday season with our toddler, and started building a counseling practice.

Looking back on the last year, I realized that my wife and I have covered a ton of ground! As I was discussing this with a friend, the weight of these life events began to sink in for the first time. I had been living under a significant amount of stress. This had become normal to me. It seemed like once I realized this, I really began to feel the stress more often. Thankfully, this also meant I had identified a problem I could do something about. For me, the solution was getting outdoors. Now, my wife (who is super awesome) lets me go camping one night a month. I’ve been doing this the past few months, and it has been a great change for me. Everyone wins. I come home in a better mood after being in the wilderness for a full day, and my wife gets to benefit from my improved mood and energy level.

I can’t help but laugh at my new revelation because a significant part of my job is helping clients see stress in their life and figuring out strategies to relieve it. I never considered how much I needed to listen to what I was telling others. Since realizing this needed change, I have really begun to figure out a routine that helps me relieve stress in my life. I’ve begun to implement things like getting up earlier (5:30 am is my goal), a specific time for reading and reflecting, actually planning out my day, and spending quality time with my wife and son. As I was getting settled in Conway and looking for a job, I came across this article on LinkedIn. It’s a pretty great resource with some practical thoughts on how to remove stress in your life. None of the steps are massive changes and they all have the potential to relieve stress. You probably won’t be able to do everything in this article but start by trying just one. As you prioritize destressing more and more, it’ll become part of a routine. Eventually, you’ll have things built into your week and month to help you manage stress in a regular rhythm.

What else do you do to relieve stress in your life?

Kyle Purcell is a counselor based in the Conway, Arkansas area, specializing in helping those who struggle with shame or some other kind of relational issue.

(501) 358-7607 Ext 104
kyle@riversidecounseling.com