How to stop your stress bucket from overflowing

People don't take the time to manage their stress bucket until it's actually overflowing and all that stress starts leaking out from an emotional or physical and mental or a spiritual perspective. 

Does this sound like you?

What is stress and how does it affect us?

Stress stacks. The stresses that we experience in our life layer like a cake. The more stress you have over time, the fuller your stress bucket will become. And if you don't take the time to learn the tools and techniques are necessary to help you empty your stress bucket to stop it from overflowing, stress will leak out.

Our bodies generate a stress hormone called cortisol. Cortisol actually kills brain cells, particularly the brain cells in our hippocampus, which is responsible for our memory. So the more stress you have, the more brain cells you will kill and the more memories you will lose.

It's really vital that we take the time to manage our stress levels so that we can ensure that we stop our stress bucket from overflowing. And at some point in our life, irrespective of how full your stress bucket is, something is going to kick it over. 

It's really important that you try and keep the levels of your stress low so that if it does get knocked over, you can recover quickly. This helps you avoid experiencing a massive struggle if your stress bucket is kicked over by a curveball, such as losing a family member or losing something in your life.

My story

I help people unchain themselves from their pain, help leaders unlock the secrets to greater mental clarity and performance and I help them unleash their potential through brain health habits to lead their family and their team more effectively to that next level in life. 

I'm a certified brain health, high-performance coach and Havening Techniques® practitioner.

I have really struggled with chronic stress. 

In fact, I think I've been chronically stressed for the best part of 15 years. I didn't recognise the stress that was building and building and building until it really overflowed when I was working in the corporate world back in 2016.

I struggled to get out of bed in the morning. I just didn't want to get up. I didn't have any energy. My motivation was rock bottom. My energy levels were rock bottom. My habits were just dreadful from a brain health perspective - I was eating all the wrong foods, drinking all the wrong drinks and using self-care tactics to help me short-term. But long-term, it was just adding to the stress levels.

How I emptied my stress bucket

And it wasn't until I got the four fundamentals in place that were necessary to stop my stress bucket from overflowing that things really shifted in my life. 

Now, you may be thinking to yourself, "My goodness, I don't have the time to empty my stress bucket." 

My question is, do you have the time not to empty it? 

Do you want to be going through your life constantly having your tempers frayed, constantly being at the end of your tether, finding things that just trip you over that you would be able to handle quite normally? Is that the person that you want to be? 

Or do you want to have the tools and techniques necessary so that you are managing your stress bucket? So that you are keeping the levels in your stress bucket low, so that you are emptying it on a consistent basis to avoid it overflowing and leaking out.

I used to suffer from psoriasis as a result of stress. I used to get dry hair - dandruff due to stress. There's many ways that stress leaks out of our body, so it's really important that you take the time to look after your stress levels.

So what are the four fundamental things that you can do to help you avoid your stress bucket from overflowing and keep emptying it on a consistent basis? Well, this can be remembered by the mnemonic Q.E.D.SHhhh:

Fundamental 1. Q is for Quality sleep

Quality sleep is absolutely fundamental to managing our brain health and particularly managing our stress levels. It is the first thing that our bodies need when we are sick and it is often the first thing that we drop when we are in a space of overwhelm.

In fact, our brains clean themselves when they go to sleep at night, they get rid of the toxins that build up in our brains. So it is fundamental that you do take the time to get the quality sleep that you need so that on a daily, or indeed nightly basis, you ensure you are recharging your brain to keep those stress levels low.

Fundamental 2. E is for Exercise

The next one is exercise. Exercise is an absolutely fantastic way to manage your stress levels. If you think about your monkey mindset, where all of your emotions and feelings are stored in your brain, when you feel that your stress levels are bubbling up, exercise is a great way to release stress.

Exercise helps us manage our stress hormone cortisol. It also helps us generate those really helpful neuro-transmitters dopamine, which boosts our motivation as well as serotonin, which boosts our level of happiness.

So it is really vital that you take the time out to do exercise ideally on a daily basis, at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week is what is recommended and do the exercise that you love that's appropriate for your health conditions. 

We know from studies that exercise has been shown to be more effective over the long-term than taking some antidepressants. So it's really a fundamental activity that is best taken every day, much like a daily vitamin.

Fundamental 3 - D is for Diet

The third one is for diet - and I'm not talking about going on a diet. I'm talking about eating the foods that love you back and drinking the drinks that love you back from a brain and whole body health perspective. 

This is to really make sure that you avoid putting things into your body that causes inflammation, that sets that internal fire in the body blazing, that raises your stress levels and your cortisol levels in your body. 

It's a fire that you can't often see until your stress bucket overflows. So it's really vital that you take the time to eat the foods and drink the drink that loves you back. And that's avoiding really sugary stuff, avoiding alcohol, avoiding the foods that actually cause you inflammation, if you are allergic to them.

If you don't know what your allergies are, then it is really important to go on an elimination diet to understand the foods that don’t love you back. So you focus on making sure that your diet helps you rather than hurts you.

Fundamental 4 - SHhhhh is for Self Havening

SH is for Self Havening. This is an absolutely fantastic, relatively unknown tool you can use daily to help calm your brain down. Scientific studies have shown it reduces the stress hormone cortisol, reduces blood pressure and also reduces your heart rate in just one session.

This is something we can all learn to do. My daughter Lily has done a lovely video on it (link). You can find out more about what Havening is (link) as well as the science behind Havening (link) to help you manage your day-to-day stresses so that you have a relief valve you can tap into every day.

By adopting these four fundamental strategies you will help avoid your stress bucket from overflowing. Just a reminder as to what they are is quality, sleep, exercise, a diet that is appropriate for you, including ,eating the foods and drinking the drink that loves you back and Self-Havening. 

If you'd like to find out more about how I can help you empty your stress bucket and avoid it from overflowing, then please do click on the link below to register yourself for a free unleashed strategy call so that we can find the right program for you.

https://calendly.com/ruthmaryallan/1-on-1-free-unleashed-strategy-call