Make Yourself Immune to Stress

We all have methods of dealing with the stressors in our daily lives. Some more productive than others. The key is to intentionally develop practices that contribute to our overall physical, mental and emotional health. These components of self-care make up our stress “immunity”.

Instead of defaulting to netflix or happy hour to “decompress”, fortify your stress immunity with some of the practices listed below:

• Move daily. Every morning before work I do 20 minutes of yoga. On weekends my movement practice is less structured. The important thing is to engage in some sort of movement everyday. This does not have to be regimented or ritualized. Just move.
• Eat well. Take time to prepare your meals and snacks instead of eating out every day. most nutrition philosophies agree it’s best to emphasize whole foods, preferably organic. Make these the bulk of your diet.
• Gratitude. I’ve written about the practice of gratitude before. I have certain “stop signs” or triggers for my gratitude practice that are part of my daily routine: the end of my yoga practice, meal time with my wife, and any time I’m holding my baby girl. Use routines in your own life as stop signs to remind yourself to be grateful for these small moments.
• Keep learning. I regularly read personal development blogs like Zen Habits and listen to podcasts like Good Life Project. They inspire me to continue learning and growing as a person. Find blogs, podcasts, books, magazines, or anything else that inspires you. Stay committed to your personal growth.
• Daily journaling. For years I’ve tried keeping a daily journal without much success. Gretchen Ruben has a one sentence journaling practice which I plan on adopting as soon as I’m ready to start a new habit. If the idea of a daily writing practice sounds intimidating, keeping your target output small makes you much more likely to follow through.
• Meditation. This is an area which I would like to explore more myself. I try to find a minute or two throughout the day to focus on my breath and let everything else go, but I’d like to develop a more regular practice. When I’m ready, I will probably start by meditating for 5 minutes and work my way up. My target is about 10 minutes of daily meditation. Just 10 minutes of meditation has been shown to have profound benefits on overall wellbeing.