We all have them. Those periods that are just insanely stressful. Perhaps some delivery needs to go out. Lots of stuff to do at work and home.

It can really take a toll on anyone. However, some people seem to handle it better.

I am not going to try to convince you that I have found the best solutions to this, but I have found a few things that really help me out.

Take some time off

Of course…

Sounds simple, but try to get at least one day a week during these periods where you do as little draining work as possible. It is very important to disconnect sometimes.

Give yourself some time to catch your breath.

Even if there is an insane amount of stuff to do, I always try to take Sundays completely off. I try not to check mail, I just do whatever I want to do.

I have found that this is not really necessary unless there is a lot of stress. I like to keep working all week long on stuff (my own personal projects for instance), but during those super stressful times, I truly need it.

Exercise

Of course. I had to go there, right?

But I am very serious about this one. If you can take a proper workout one or two times a week, it will benefit you a lot.

It’s feels like a refill. I go into the gym feeling drained with low energy. I go out of the gym feeling energized and ready tackle new problems. And it keeps me going for several days.

If you can just go for a run a couple of times (or more…) a week, you will not regret it. And you do have time for that. If not, take time for it - because it will enable you to be able to work more efficiently.

Meditate

The feeling I get after doing a meditation is a lot like a combination of taking time off and exercising. I feel calm, yet energized.

The world slows down and allows you to catch up to it.

If you can be more mindful and present in what you do, you will be able to faster, more precise and less drained.

If you have a thousand thoughts at once you try to deal with, you will deal with none of them.

I suggest you try to get into mindfulness, with for instance headspace.

I am not going to go into depth about mindfulness right now, but if you take my word for it and do a month of headspace, you will understand!

Take some slow breaths

This is neat little trick when you are starting to feel overwhelmed.

Take a step back, close your eyes and take a few really slow breaths. In through your nose and out through your mouth.

You’ll feel calmer right away, and hopefully more able to deal with all those things going on.

If you are having something that starts to look like panic attacks, take a look at 4-7-8 breath exercise (I recommend looking at this even if you are not having panic attacks!):

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/VDR00112/The-4-7-8-Breath-Benefits-and-Demonstration.html

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