How to Stop Stress in the Moment - Dealing with Stressful Experiences

It's helpful to know how to deal with stress after the fact to help you relax & reset & even what to do to prevent feeling overly stressed, but it's more important to know what to do during your stressful experience to minimize its effect & how to get past it. Here are 7 tips on how to manage it in the moment.

Show Notes:
Stress. It’s everyone's best friend, right? We all deal with stress in some capacity of our daily lives & we handle it in our own specific ways. I, myself, deal with stress by freaking out, sometimes having a panic attack & allowing all my emotions to bubble up & explode at the height of everything. At least this is what happens when I don’t take a breath before considering the best way to respond to the situation.

It’s so easy to allow stress to creep into our lives because sometimes we don’t think it’s stress that is grabbing hold of us. We think it’s just a tiny bit of anxiety or maybe a little overwhelm or a temporary heightened emotion that will resolve itself shortly once everything gets under control. But then things continue to spiral out of control. Now what? 

When we start to experience stress, we can feel it emotionally & physically. Our breathing & heart rate change, our vision might distort & we could even experience headaches, muscle tension or even exhaustion. Emotionally we could slide into a panic attack, possible depression or irritability. It just all depends on how our bodies decide to naturally handle stress. 

Mind you, some stress in life can be a positive thing because the stressor is challenging & motivating you or keeps us alert to stay safe & out of danger, similar to fear. But today we are going to focus more on the stress that happens when we are focusing on our fears manifesting. 

When you’re dealing with stress, you’re not gonna want to stop & think. You don’t wanna stop & consider what the best course of action is in that given situation & you might even tell yourself that you can't, but that isn’t true. You can, you just need to practice doing so & know what to do immediately next.  A lot of times we don’t think we can do something different than our natural response because we have a fixed mindset. We have trouble believing we can change & grow. Maybe this is because of failing to do so in the past or someone telling you you wouldn’t be able to change or you’re fearful of what will happen if it doesn’t work out like you’d like it to. Regardless of the reason, you got fear built-in & it’s preventing you from believing in yourself enough to take the first step towards change & growth. It’s that fear that we need to beat out & you can do that at any time by taking action towards making a change. 

Here are 7 tips on how to stop stress in the moment:

1. Acknowledge that you’re stressed. Don’t run from it. 
2. Break down why you’re stressed, if time allows. 
3. Try breathing exercises or counting up or down. 
4. Take a break, if you can. 
5. Lean into compassion not cruelty towards yourself.
6. Find a new perspective.
7. Remember their stress isn’t your stress.

Visit me on Instagram or TikTok: @sabrinajoyperozzo

Anonymous survey for topic suggestions: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScqcg0URMsH61Evk_3SiSURBkNuk5aUZVo97H5nuLVB0q36Iw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Questions, comments, or feedback? Ema

Support the show

Watch the Video Version of RPG: https://www.youtube.com/@realpositivegirl/podcasts
Buy the Planner on AMAZON!: https://amzn.to/3WwthT2
Visit me on Instagram or TikTok: @sabrinajoyperozzo
Email Me: [email protected]