Coping with Stress

I have had this list on my fridge on and off for the last five years. It was given to me by a friend who is a great example to me and whom I look up to in many ways. In the most stressed times of my life, this list has helped me see the forest for the trees. I have never done everything on this list at once, but find even one little change can help.  Over the past six years my husband and I have built our own home, brought two children into this world and started a garden and a farm. We have had our hills and valleys and mountains. This list posted to my fridge has helped me find something concrete I can do to reduce stress in our own lives. I feel like not sharing it would be selfish. I'm not the kind of person who has time to google, reducing stress. So feel free to print it out and post it on your fridge and maybe ,sometime, when you are looking for chocolate, you might catch sight of this list and find something a little better. 


1} Prioritize your life. 

2} Balance work, relaxation and exercise. 

3} Avoid caffeine, alcohol, tobacco and junk foods. 

4} Eat a natural whole grain diet. 

5} Drastically reduce use of white sugar in your life. 

6} Drink chamomile or lemon balm tea as a calming agent

7} When going through prolonged periods of stress that are unavoidable, like prolonged illness of a family member, grief, unemployment or the rigours of raising children, temporarily use supplements like magnesium, vitamin C, and a high does of vitamin B complex stress formula. 

8} Do not over use salt.

10} Drink liquorice root, nettle or ginseng tea for exhaustion. 

11} Exercise for twenty minutes three times a week. 

12} Spend some time out of doors every day. 

13} Live simply. 

14} Create a quite time to be with God every day, and we grateful for his love and for everything he has give you. 

15} Forget the "SUPER HUMAN IMAGE". Ask for help. Ponder on how great it makes someone else feel to do something for you for a change. 

16} Guard your time jealously. Set priorities on the different areas of your life. Make daily decisions what can be dropped today. If you take on a new service, drop an old one. 

17} Set time limits for each area of your life. 

18} Review what you are working for. Are you working for an ideal, for money or your children. Make decisions based on the value they hold for you. 

19} Don't say YES, right away. "let me think about it for a bit". Then look at what it will cost you in time and what will have to be laid aside if it's too much… then decide. 

20} Create routines where play, realization, exercise get their appropriate time and are balanced with work.