Is REI Stressing You Out??

With the Holidays approaching, working at your job, taking care of your family, your home, and trying to succeed in REI, you're probably feeling the stress build up, just like I am… so I thought I'd share a few tips that I have learned from seminars and from books and articles that I've read over the years, that may help you manage your stress during the holidays (and always) in a healthy way.

As you know, there are unhealthy ways of dealing with stress, like drinking too much, not sleeping enough to get things done, or sleeping too much?, not eating healthy food (yes, we all need our fruits, veggies, proteins, etc. but sometimes we find it easier to make a quick drive-through pick-up at McDonald's), sitting in front of the tv or computer for hours (getting sidetracked reading the pop-ups), withdrawing from your family and friends, procrastinating our obligations, filling up every minute of the day with meaningless activities so that we don't have time to face those dreadful yet important chores, taking out your frustrations on others, or using pills to relax…and the list goes on..

So, what can we do to avoid falling into the stress trap? Well, to keep this short, and to the point, I'll try to summarize it all in these (5 A's) Steps that you can use to minimize the stress in your life:

1. Avoid Stress: it's ok to say 'no'. Stay away from people that stress you out. Stay off conversation topics that upset you. Take control of you; you can decide what you want to do and what you don't want to do; you decide what needs to be done, and what should be done.

2. Alter the Situation: time management will help you here; write down things that need to get done now, things that can wait, and things that you don't really need to be doing at all. Be willing to compromise, things should not be about winning all the time, accept defeat sometimes, and move on. Try to anticipate issues and try to prevent them.

3. Adapt to Stressor: think positive, remember 'after so many no's you will get a 'yes'; it's always good to look up to successful people and try to imitate their habits, but don't beat yourself up if you don't get the same results; instead, give yourself a pat in the back for taking steps towards reaching your goals.

4. Accept Things that you cannot change: forgive and forget; don’t' try to make other people see or thing like you do; if you make a mistake, learn from it and move on. We are all human and live in an imperfect world- embrace it, don't fight it.

5. Adopt a Healthy Lifestyle. Make time to relax. Spend time with your family and friends. Don’t spend all day sitting in front of your computer; take small breaks throughout the day, get up and stretch, walk your dog around the block, eat a healthy snack. Eat healthy meals. Exercise every day. But most importantly, don't forget to do things that you enjoy doing!

Wishing everyone great success,