3 Ways to De-Stress on Hard Days

Everybody has hard days. They come and go. Some days are great, some not so great. But what I’ve been learning is how we de-stress on those hard days that can make them feel a little better. If we accept the fact that not everyday will be good, we will eventually learn how to appreciate the good days.

De-stressing is something that is very individual. What I might enjoy to de-stress after a hard day at work will be very different to what you’d like to do to switch off. The main thing is finding what suits you. And, the main thing is finding what helps you mentally on your hard days.

PRACTICING SELF CARE

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the word self care was thrown around alot. Now that life has somewhat returned to normal, I feel like self care for alot of people have gone out of the window. Work has returned back to its normal stressful levels, and there’s no time for us to relax and unwind anymore. The pandemic was awful, but I think it showed us all how important making sure our mental health is. Just because we aren’t in lockdowns anymore, doesn’t mean that we should forget all we learnt during that time. It’s probably just as important now as it was back then.

Self care comes in all shapes and forms. Relaxing and unwinding can be really beneficial after a long, hard day. Here are a few ways I practice self care:

• Utilise do not disturb. iPhone has a great feature that allows you to block calls, messages and notifications. When I feel overwhelmed I turn my DND on. It just helps me to not be stuck on my phone for hours and hours.
• Working out. It’s proven that exercise is really beneficial to our mental health. If I ever have a bad day, I prioritise movement. Even if its for 30 minutes. Getting myself outside or just out of the house really can make such a difference to my mood.

PLAYING GAMES

Now, hear me out on this one. I wouldn’t usually encourage staring at a screen to unwind. However, I know how beneficial it can be to feel like you’re in another world playing a game. I do it myself. I love playing sims. It helps me to forget about my day and focus on positive, fun things.

Gaming has a bad name sometimes, but games can be beneficial and educational. Mortgagecalculator.org has a wide range of educational games for kids that allows them to learn about finance and money. Who said learning can’t be fun?! One of my personal favourites from the website is the cash back game and the grocery cashier game. Both help to teach you about money but also have a great mathematics aspect to them aswell. Check them out if you haven’t already!

GETTING OUTSIDE

I mentioned this briefly earlier, but getting outside on your hard days can help so much with your mental health. Touching the grass and breathing in fresh air can make such a world of difference to how you’re feeling. When I feel stressed or down, I sometimes have a bad habit of staying inside and locking myself away. Which will only make me feel worse, and it does every time. You may have to physically force yourself to get out, but once you do, it will be worth it.

How do you de-stress after hard days? What do you do to unwind?

Olivia x 
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