I don’t know about you, but I always find that my stress and anxiety levels increase this time of year with the holiday season approaching – and this year, a baby (both exciting and a little anxious at the same time). Stress sneaks up in so many different ways, and what stresses me out may not be what stresses you out – but regardless, we all know what stress feels like and how hindering it can be. Instead of letting stress take control, I’ve been working on ways to calm myself down and really get centered, even when it seems near impossible.

I came across this article for creating an emotional toolkit created by a Reiki Master, which has completely changed how I handle my stress in the moment. Instead of getting overwhelmed and overly emotional when I’m stressed out (or hormonal!), I now have a toolkit that I can use to help calm me down. Here are the things the article suggests adding to your emotional toolkit:

1. Breathe – focus on your breath to reduce stress.
2. Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) aka Tapping.
3. Take a “hike” – aka take a break from your stressors and do something that makes you happy.
4. Dance it out – yep, actually dance. Hiii Beyonce!
5. Ho’oponopono – an old Hawaiian prayer to help with mental cleansing.
6. Remember who you really are – connect back to your roots.

Challenge: Create an emotional toolkit

I’ve chosen a few of the above techniques to test out any time I’ve been stressed these last few days, and the results have been incredible. My favorite technique so far is to take a “hike” – my form of a hike is a prenatal yoga class. There’s something so centering and freeing about being able to escape whatever is stressing me out and head to a happy place – the yoga studio.

So this week, take a few moments to choose a couple of things to add to your emotional toolkit. And next time you’re stressed out, test one of them out and see how it works for you. I recommend trying out different things in your toolkit to see what works best for you in certain stressful situations.

Who’s going to build an emotional toolkit with me this week? Who already has one?

Wearing: Anine Bing Piper Silk Pants & The Great College Sweatshirt

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