There Will Be Another Sunrise: @OBBookTours: Write Yourself Right out of Stress…at Home or Work! by Leona DeRosa Bodie

Write Yourself Right out of Stress…at Home or Work!

by Leona DeRosa Bodie

I’m currently unsupervised. I know it freaks me out too! But, the possibilities are endless! Be patient! I will eventually say or do something interesting! The purpose of this Write Yourself Right out of Stress…at Home or Work guest post is to help you develop the understanding, commitment and the skills necessary to de-stress using various techniques, including the creative therapy of personal writing.

Stress and heartache have fueled many great stories for us. But you don’t have to write a best-seller to get stress-relief from writing. Dealing with it can be healthy, natural, and even fun. So, get ready for a stress-less great time! You will learn how to use writing as a tool in your stress management toolbox. Plus, discover 10 more things you can do to instantly de-stress.

High levels of stress can be a barrier to making healthy lifestyle changes. Follow your heart but take your brains with you! How? Increase awareness of de-stressing techniques and how it affects the quality of your life. Identify barriers and facilitators to stress management at home as well as work, enabling better self-treatment. We’ve always been taught to treat others with kindness, dignity and respect. Now let’s give ourselves the same courtesies we’d give any other human being. Expand awareness of writing styles and use these skills to maintain a healthier YOU!

This is a no-brainer: many people experience stress over the course of their days, for a multitude of reasons. In fact, 22 percent of Americans reported experiencing extreme stress, according to the American Psychological Association.

Feeling stressed out can do more to your body than make you feel anxious; studies have repeatedly found stress to be the root of chronic diseases, such as depression, cardiovascular disorders and infectious diseases. Finding ways to reduce stress can improve your mental well-being in the moment you’re feeling stressed and beyond.

“When you ‘feel’ stress reduce, you are feeling your heart rate calm, your brainwaves organize, your vessels dilating, and your physiology and emotional state return to neutral” after the body’s ramped up response to a stressor, said Dr. Cynthia Ackrill of the American Institute of Stress and WellSpark, a leadership development firm. “A number of activities have stress reducing effects for multiple reasons.”

Here are ten things you can do to instantly de-stress.

1. Streamlining your activities and tasks can be an effective time-management strategy.

2. Proper breathing called “belly breathing;” breaths are slow and deep and fill the abdomen, not the chest. This is one of the oldest and cheapest forms of stress management known to mankind! Mindful breathing resets brain patterns, increases heart rate coherence, lowers blood pressure and many more effects.

3. Adequate sleep is a major element of coping with stress
4. Laughter is a great way to manage stress and stay healthy. Don’t forget every now and then to be silly. Taking a bath calms our physiology and relaxes the vessels.
5. Drinking water can be soothing and a way to help our bodies handle all the reactions that happen when we’re stressed. When we are stressed out, we tend to get dehydrated.
6. Snuggling with puppies or any pet for that matter lowers blood pressure and increases immune responses, counteracting the negative effects of stress, but your puppy isn’t a stress cure-all. Don’t live a life filled with stress then love your dog — make changes and love the dog! When you walk the dog you’re hitting three stress reducers in one activity: exercise, and being around animals and nature.
7. Getting a hug. Don’t underestimate the power of human connection. We need more touch to release anti-stress chemicals.
8. Listening to audio-books. When you listen to an audio-book to de-tress, you’re usually shifting focus. But if the stressor is still looming, this may only be procrastination. If it sparks creative thinking to deal with a stressor — to expand thought patterns — it may be helpful.
9. Dancing is an excellent way to instantly reduce stress. Movement releases stress reducing chemicals as well as chemicals that support brain growth. Exercise rivals antidepressants.”
10. Creative Therapy. Use the act of writing and processing the written word as therapy. Writing your feelings gradually eases feelings of emotional trauma. Writing will give you a shield, and comes with other added-value benefits.

Writing therapy focuses on expressive writing and its value in processing life experience, particularly trauma and transition. I encourage you to write about your “deepest thoughts and feelings” regarding a particular subject (e.g. illness, recent loss, life transition). Research results are impressive.

Expressive writing has been shown to increase both the working memory (how we hold information in our minds to connect and use) and academic performance of college students. The benefits don’t stop there. Having given language to traumatic experiences, we’ve in a sense contained their potency. The chronic stress they’ve induced – and the corresponding physiological impact like weakened immune function, systemic inflammation, hormonal imbalance, and impaired cardiovascular function – diminishes.

Writing, more than speaking, presents us with a slower, solitary means for reflection. Unlike conversations, we’re less concerned with another person’s reaction. We listen more intently to our own voices and catch glimpses of subtler stirrings. We own our words in a more definitive way.

In the course of a lifetime, telling our stories can help us discover our passion, navigate complicated patches, and ultimately define our legacy. We can struggle freely with whatever plagues us, or envision a new and perhaps fearful path. We can delve into the parts of ourselves we don’t consider appropriate for public display. We can clarify the meaning we’ve found in our years, the rewards and regrets that inhabit our lives in hindsight. You can keep a journal or a diary or files on your computer or you can blog or write stories, poems or novels. And an unexpected benefit is you might even be paid for your creativity. Creativity is your intelligence having FUN!

About Leona DeRosa Bodie:

Some years back, she was a senior training specialist for the University of Miami/Jackson medical Center, presenting 400 seminars in two years. Most recently, she served as a member of the Board of Directors and Vice President of the Florida Writers Association. Currently, she’s their Regional Director for the Treasure Coast of Florida.

Today Leona is an Amazon Bestselling Author. She started doing the happy dance when her debut thriller ‘Shadow Cay’, won First Place in the Mystery/Thriller/ Suspense category in the Reader Views Annual Literary Awards, and hasn’t stopped yet. Her biggest surprise and most memorable milestone . . . When Gelati’s Scoop recognized ‘Shadow Cay’ as one of the top thirty-five novels of the year, she landed on the list alongside such giants as James Patterson, David Baldacci and Daniel Silva.

Feel free to stop by her web site at www.leonabodie.com; she is also on Twitter (@ShadowCay) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/authorleonabodie), where you are more than welcome to follow her, friend her, and/or tell her to stop being distracted by the Internet. She has a life outside of Facebook but can’t remember the password for it!