Real Entrepreneur Mums RealMag Jan29 2018 | Page 8

Stress Busting in 10 Minutes a Day

What if I told you that all you needed to change your health and your business outcomes , was 10 minutes a day ? Think you could find it ?
If you Google stress , you get 559 million hits . Nope – that ’ s not a typo . There ’ s a LOT of stress out there and Real Entrepreneur Mums probably know it .
So what exactly is stress ? According to the Oxford Dictionary , stress is :

“ ”

A state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances .
Or put simply , pulling yourself in a dozen different directions , doesn ’ t make for a healthy mind , body or spirit .
I see a lot of people in my clinic suffering from stress , and it presents in a variety of ways . The top 5 are :
• Anxiety and depression
• Headaches and migraines
• Menstrual problems
• Sleep disturbance
• Digestive issues
Ongoing , or chronic stress can lead to heart problems , chronic illness , immune function disorders , brain function issues and cancer . Stress really is a killer .
Being stressed will affect your business too . It impairs your ability to think clearly or reason logically . That mind blank when you ’ ve got an important deadline , or the cold fear that appears when you need to eat one of those frogs ? That ’ s your body ’ s reaction to stress and it gets in the way of you achieving your goals . Stress becomes overwhelm or procrastination - you can ’ t see the way forward and so nothing gets done .
How often do you think the following ?
It ’ s OK , I just need a holiday It ’ ll be better when …. It ’ s just a part of life I need to harden up I ’ ll do something about it when I ’ ve done ( insert list here ) I don ’ t have time Lots of people are stressed , it ’ s normal My whole family are stress-heads , there ’ s nothing I can do about it . It ’ s inherited
10 minutes a day . That ’ s all you need to manage your stress levels .
One of the most effective ways to manage stress is to find 10 minutes in your day and put yourself first . Most people ’ s response , especially busy entrepreneur mum ’ s is “ I don ’ t have time to go to the toilet , let alone find 10 minutes for myself .” But here ’ s the thing : it becomes about priorities . When you find those ten minutes in the day , and make yourself the priority , you find that you become a better business woman , better mother , better wife , sister , friend . By reducing yours stress levels , you become more effective and therefore you create the 10 minutes you need . But you have to start somewhere . And the time to start is now .
It ’ s time to start looking after yourself . Time to move yourself up your list of priorities . Time to make looking after yourself important – both mentally and physically . When you do this , you will change how stress affects you .
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