As a busy woman with plenty on your plate, you like many women may feel proud of your ability to multitask and stay on top of things, but lately you have felt stressed and unable to focus.
Fortunately, there are a number of things that you can do to calm your mind and feel more peaceful.
Be proactive with your financial security
It seems like you can’t pick up a newspaper or turn on the news without hearing another story about data breaches. You have also seen the posts on your community website, warning you against the use of credit card “skimmers”—some right in your neighborhood. If these stories are causing you to feel stressed out about the safety of your personal information and your savings and credit card accounts, it is time to take the bull by the horns and protect your good name.
Start by changing every single password to your bank and credit card companies; select a different password for each one and use a hard to guess combo of symbols, letters and numbers. Make sure you don’t leave any bank apps open on your phone, and never opt to “save” your log in info on either your computer or any mobile device. Also, look into signing up for an identity theft protection service to keep your personal information monitored 24/7. Knowing that your bank and credit card accounts, as well as your name, address and Social Security number are all being electronically monitored will give you invaluable peace of mind.
Consider an information diet
When you were growing up, your folks probably got their information from the nightly news, the morning paper and maybe that bulky set of Encyclopedia Britannica you kept in the family room. Nowadays, you can keep tabs on your friends through Facebook, watch round-the-clock news updates on 24-hour news channels and on apps on your phone, check YouTube anytime you want for the latest tips on beauty, gardening and health, and have access to pretty much any type of information you think you need through Google.
Simply put, we are all addicted to info, and it’s all too much. This information overload has left many people feeling overwhelmed and overly-stimulated.
In order to calm the mental storm that too much information can cause, go on an information diet. This approach requires asking yourself if what you are doing online or watching on TV will truly be useful to you in a tangible way—if the answer is no, put down the phone, shut the TV off and do something else. Similar to a junk food elimination diet, where you ask yourself “how will this handful of Doritos help my health?” if you are craving some serious Facebook time, question your need to spend 30 minutes of your valuable time scrolling through dozens of posts and ads. The goal of this approach is not to completely cut out your access to useful news, but to trim way back on the endless barrage of info that is available 24/7/365.
Start journaling
The simple act of starting a journal can be such a powerful “keystone habit,” it can cause many other areas of your life to improve—including your emotional health. Treat yourself to a lovely notebook and fancy pen and start writing down your goals, thoughts, worries and dreams.
To prevent journaling from feeling like another item on your To-Do List, start small—maybe five minutes of jotting down feelings in your journal while you sip your morning coffee—and over time increase the amount of time you spend writing. You will probably find that getting your anxieties and worries out of your head and onto paper will be a cathartic and soothing experience that can help you to feel calmer throughout the day.
Say goodbye to the scatterbrained you
While there are plenty of challenging occurrences during the day that you cannot control—things like long lines at the grocery store or construction during your commute—there are definitely sources of stress that you have the power to eliminate. By being proactive with your finances, paring way down on your constant need for information and spending some time with your thoughts in a journal, you should feel like the mental storm is passing and a sense of peace returning.