Stop breathe, check in with your mind, body and spirit and take our Pink stress questionnaire.

With increasing expectations, workloads and personal commitments it is no wonder these familiar words “I’m so stressed out” are flung around the kitchen, the sandpit and the boardroom by friends, family and colleagues every day.

Stress becomes a more popular discussion point than the latest book you read, or the delightful tasting gnocchi you cooked last night, or the next exhilarating adventure you are planning to take or create.

This ultimately wraps you in a sheath of unhappiness and puts you on a pedal stool for potential disease. So, how about like a child you stomp your feet, say “no more” and take a stand against your stress.

Trust me, actively reducing your stress, will bring more moments of joy, inner content, happiness and peace. It will deepen relationships and connections with your family and friends. It will reduce destructive consequences from running rancid in your life.

Answer these questions!

Create awareness around your stress levels, then harness this awareness so you are in a better position to understand how to pack its suitcase, and move it out of your life, letting it fly away, once and for all to a lovely dark destination on its own.

Fly away!

Pink stress questionnaire – Symptoms

I love a good tick list and use them a lot in my planning and creating. So, let’s tick away (the less ticks the better in this instance) to see how your mind and body really feel about how stressed out you are. Where are you at really? Sometimes we are very good at hiding the truth from ourselves. Be honest!

Physical:

Tense muscles
Headaches, backache and nexk pain
Tiredness
Tummy or digestion issues
Shaking
Heart palpitations
Loss of apetite
Chest pains
More frequent colds or a feeling of being unwell
Skin rashes
Breathing difficulties
Hot or cold spells, sweating of chills
Faintness or dizziness
Numbness or tingling in parts of your body
Heaviness in your arms and legs
Feeling a lump in your throat
Exaggerated startle response
Feeling overstimualted
Sleep disturbances

Emotional:

Anxiety, irritability, restlessness and nervousness
Sadness, depression and moodiness
Anger and inappropriate blaming
Apathy and diminished interest in usual activities
Feelings of isolation and detachment
Feelings of guilt

Behavioural:

Addictions, drugs, alcohol, smoking
Doing things to excess
Putting yourself at risk
Difficulty sleeping
Weight problems and eating disorders
Accident prone
Hypo activity or hyperactivity
Outbursts of anger
Irrational actions
Withdrawl

Cognitive:

Difficulty concentrating
Difficult making decisions
Forgetfulness
Feeling hopeless
Mental confusion
Slow thinking
Loss of objectivity
Brain fog
Inability to make judgements and decsions
Overwhelm

Don’t stress out over having too many ticks, if that is the case. Just use this exercise as an awareness tool to make some changes, One step at a time.

Over time feelings accumulate pile on top of each other like a big stress mountain and cause more destructive illnesses like high blood pressure, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, cancer, muscular, digestive and respiratory problems. Look around you and you will see it in people everywhere.

Your goal however is not to eliminate stress in its entirety but to learn to manage it. Finding the optimal level of stress which will individually motivate but not overwhelm you is the prize at the end of the stress rainbow.

Important tip

Stress is YOUR RESPONSE to an event and you can always change YOUR RESPONSE. Also make sure you respond instead of react.

Reaction is generally uncontrolled and impulsive and comes out poorly to others and leaves us feeling ashamed. It is not thought out and generally just vented.

Response on the other hand is generally thought about, responsible, and takes into account everyone’s feelings.

Stop reacting and start responding.

Self awareness reflection

• Can you change anything?
• Can you change your stressors by avoiding or eliminating them completely?
• Can you reduce their intensity (manage them over a period of time instead of on a daily basis or weekly basis)
• Can you just take a break?
• Can you set some new goals?
• Can you work on your time management?
• Can you take up a pleasurable pastime?
• Can you stop and relax?
• Are you expecting to please everybody?
• Are you overreacting and viewing things as absolutely critical or urgent?
• Are you viewing things in black or white?
• Are you unable to say NO?
• Are you telling yourself you cannot cope?
• Are you What if (ing)?

More Self-awareness contemplation’s

• In what situations do you find yourself most stressed?
• How do you react in these situations?
• What signs does your body/mind give you when you are feeling stressed?
• Think about a time when you managed a stressful situation well. What did you do?
• Where do you add stress to your life?
• List one thing you can do to help minimise your stress levels.
• What is one thing you could do differently to deal with a stressful situation better?
• What one thing can you find more time to do this week?
• On a scale from 1 – 10 are you satisfied with the amount of time you spend doing your favourite things?
• On a scale from 1 – 10 how stressed do you feel at the moment?
• Are you ready to take responsibility towards change?

Pink tips to overcome stress

• Learn to notice and be aware of your stress and situations that cause you stress
• Stop and breathe, slow down
• Leave it till tomorrow
• Don’t be so hard on yourself
• Don’t be so serious
• Investigate relaxation techniques
• Stay fit and healthy, well rested and intake healthy food and liquids
• Hang out with your most positive and supportive friends
• Set realistic goals and document them in pretty colours and post them on your wall
• Investigate your values and beliefs and bring them into alignment
• Practice gratitude and show appreciation
• Use to do lists – set priorities
• Focus on the moment right here right now
• Boost your self esteem, be nice and kind to yourself
• Have some fun
• Laugh a little
• Sing and dance in the kitchen with only your pj’s on
• Wear flowers in your hair and kiss a tree

Whatever you do. Stop missing the beautiful things in life, take the trip, watch the movie, buy the big TV because you only live once there is no dress rehearsal, this is it!

A very special person, right before they passed away said to me “Don’t work so hard, enjoy your life, it really does go too quickly”.

Redesign and redecorate your life
One step at a time

Book your stress a seat and let it fly far away. Pick a nice pink destination and relax, recharge, regenerate and start living the stress free life you were put here to experience.