How to Reduce the Stress in your Life

How to Reduce the Stress in your Life

The Stress Problem

A couple years ago, we had some major setbacks in our family, and I got so stressed out that I began losing chunks of my hair. Like, CHUNKS. I had completely bald patches. I was really worried I was going completely lose all of my hair.  The doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with me (and I was only 26 at the time).

During this time, I just kept plugging on with my life, and when I got home from work, or on Saturday afternoons, I would sit in the bathtub and read a book.  When I got out I would lather eucalyptus tea stress relief lotion all over myself.

I would totally lose myself in the book, escaping from the realities of life for a little while.

It wasn’t’ only losing myself in the pages of a novel or learning something new in a nonfiction book that helped me relieve stress, it was also the act of doing something I loved to do as a child.  Going back to our childhood loves is great balm for the soul. 

A Reading Nook

The bathtub is one of my cozy reading “nooks”.  It doesn’t sound like a traditional place to curl up with a book, but it is a comfortable, soothing place, and if I am going to soak for a while, I might as well read!

I also read that taking a bath is reminiscent of being in the womb, so it is great for comfort and stress relief.  If you’re interested in the appeal of baths check out this article from the guardian.  

I didn’t stop losing my hair until our situation we were in was resolved, but it did keep me going and moving forward with life to lose myself in a book every once in a while.

How to reduce stress:

1.    Find a book you’re interested in.  Here are some ideas:

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon 

The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

Chasing Slow by Erin Loechner

Outliers by Malcom Gladwell

2.    Run a warm bath

Add mood lighting, a favorite drink, Spotify, etc

3.    Soak and read for at least 30 minutes (or as long as the water stays warm!)

4.    Towel off and lather a stress-relieving scented lotion. Some of my favorites are:

Eucalyptus tea from the aromatherapy stress relief Bath and Body Works line

Palmer’s Cocoa Butter – especially the Massage Lotion for Stretch marks

Plain ol’ baby oil 

  

Your Turn

We all live stressful lives and have periods of intensely taxing situations.  Next time you’re stressed or worried try these four easy steps and keep yourself moving forward. 

Hannah

A Book to Heal your Soul

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

      I avoided this book the first several times it was suggested to me.  Why would I want to read about a bookshop?  Is the whole book about other people reading?  Sounds boring.

      And then I absolutely lost myself in it. I felt such a warmth and draw to its pages; like it was the place I was meant to be.  The character’s pain and struggles and sadness really drew you in as much as their vitality for life (when they began to discover it).

There wasn’t a character in the book that “looked” like me – I am a mom of little kids, married for five years to the man I love, and a former teacher – the main character was a fifty-year-old man who had been living a closed-off life mourning the loss of his true love 20 years prior. But the idea that we all are growing in life, we can realize problems and solutions, we struggle through to find love and happiness and beauty connected me to each unique character.

      Jean Perdu runs a book apothecary.  Books have a healing power, a motivational sway, and an outlet for emotions that people just need sometimes – and Perdu was able to deliver it. He was a soul reader. He would look into his customer’s inner beings, search them, and come up with a book that would heal their ailments.

      The language envelopes you; you can almost smell the sea as Nina George describes it, you can feel Perdu’s pain knot in your stomach as his grief encapsulates him, and you can feel the edge of desire ride through your skin as he discovers love again.

      Go with Perdu on his adventure down the river in his bookshop and through the veins of his heart as they begin to learn how to let the life blood through them again.

You can find The Little Paris Bookshop here.

Hannah