I hinted at my stressful week last week in my Weekly Wrap post, where I shared the hotel gym workouts that got me through. In all honesty, it was more of a long and grueling week than a stressful week, because although I was working almost around the clock, I was working with colleagues I get along with and respect, and we all pulled together to get the job done. Still, when I got home, I treated myself to some self-care strategies with these five ways to reduce stress.
Loving these items from the PopSugar MustHaveBox I was sent to review!
Five strategies? You know that means I’m linking up with Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness for the new Friday Five 2.0!
Five Ways To Reduce Stress
1. Get a massage. I had to go straight from the train station to the office, but on the way I booked a massage for later in the afternoon. That gave me incentive to focus on what had to get done instead of getting sucked into a week’s worth of emails waiting for my attention. While I usually ask the massage therapist to focus on my legs, she spent most of the time working out the knots in my shoulders from being hunched over my laptop for 15+ hours a day.
2. Fix a healthy meal. After a week of catered meeting food, my body needed a nourishing meal that wasn’t served in a large foil pan kept warm over a can of Sterno® fuel. I made a big batch of my chicken and mushroom soup, and enjoyed leftovers for lunch.
3. Get a good night’s sleep. I’ve gone for a night or two on 4 hours of sleep, but seven nights in a row of 4-5 hours sleep took a toll. Friday night I made no apologies and was asleep by 9:00 pm.
4. Go for a long run. After a week of hotel gym workouts, I wasn’t going to let frigid temperatures keep me inside. I learned a few winters ago that 24F can be quite pleasant if it’s sunny and there’s no wind, and Saturday was lovely!
My legs must have been really happy to be outside!
5. Take it to the mat. Whatever kinks were left after my massage–or introduced by my long run–were worked out on the mat. It was even more restorative since I was able to meet up Deborah for a great CPY2 class.
Celebrating our confidence with star pose.
How do you recover from a stressful–or exhausting–week?
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I make sure to stick my normal routine out of the office. There’s a certain comfort in doing the things that make things feel ok! And I go to bed early too.
I agree that sticking to your routine as much as possible can be helpful. Going to bed early was not an option, but I made up for it last weekend.
Getting a massage is one of my favorite things to do. I try to grt one after a long run as kind of a reward.
I should go more regularly. I’m aiming for once a month, but every 3 weeks would be better.
Good food and sleep always make me feel so much better!
It’s amazing what a difference those simple things can make.
I’m surprised you actually had the energy for all that — but go you! How fun to be able to meet up with Deborah.
The weather this week has made life super challenging. No sun & much wind up here! Not to mention the snow . . .
There was some adrenaline involved. And at least two afternoon trips to Starbucks, although as much for the fresh air as the caffeine.
These are such great tips! I do a lot of the same things and give myself some down time 🙂
Yes sleep makes such a difference for me! That and having nothing on my schedule for a weekend is bliss. Great to see you for yoga let’s do it again soon
That would be bliss! Yoga was awesome!
Great job on the self care! That all sounds wonderful. And yay for colleagues you get along with 🙂 That definitely makes the job better.
It makes ALL the difference. Otherwise weeks like that would just plain suck!
I’m on day 12 of a 30 day yoga challenge and feeling the difference. I really like hitting the mat, but there is nothing quite like a long run to beat stress.
They each seem to have a different purpose – burn off the stress and then relax even more?
Great tips!!
I try to leave work at work… whatever I can’t fix when I’m there, will not torment me all night or all weekend. It’s my rule to myself, to completely unplug!
Ugh, I wish I could do that. Sometimes I’m so involved I sort of dream about it. 🙁
Since I run before work, when I get home from work, sometimes I need just 1-2 hours to myself to decompress. I know that sounds like a lot, but I am a teacher and I am with people ALL DAY. I need some alone time after! It usually involves TV and computer. Screens…
Yeah, after working at a screen all day I often relax in front of a screen at night. ~sigh~
Good for you for taking care of yourself after such a tough week! I find a massage and some sleep does wonders for me.
Hope you get a break from your work travel schedule for a while!
How fun! I love yoga with friends. 🙂
I need to work on getting more sleep and possibly a massage. Sounds heavenly right about now!