Preventing Stress: How to Ground Yourself
Before you ask, no, I don’t mean electrically. We’re not trying to prevent a build-up of static here, even if shocking everything you touch is incredibly annoying. The type of grounding we’re talking about is spiritual grounding. Running a business can be incredibly stressful – it comes with the job. Depending on your occupation, you likely experience stress at least occasionally. Some people thrive under that pressure, using it to fuel them up and over to their destination. Some people, myself included, don’t always handle it that well. There are plenty of ways to get rid of that stress, or at least take the edge off. However, when you’re in the moment, you can’t always take a 30-minute meditation break. A good solution, something that could almost be considered a mini-meditation, is called ‘grounding.’
Grounding is balancing yourself out by connecting yourself with the earth. It is supposed to make you feel like you are more ‘here’; in the present. According to some, the more spiritual side of grounding is connecting to the energy of the Earth itself, and if you are not connected you can suffer from headaches, anxiety, fatigue, and the like. Some even see it as not too different than preventing that static build-up I mentioned earlier. We, as humans, produce electrical energy, and if we don’t get rid of enough of it and get overwhelmed, there can be a negative reaction. Whether you believe in that type of energy or not, grounding can still be helpful for you because it forces you to be aware of yourself and what’s around you, giving you something to concentrate on and a short process to try and relax.
Basically, you could call it self-care: You can ‘ground’ by being mindful while you eat delicious, healthy food; by taking a bath with Epsom salts; anything that makes you feel more aware of your body and allows you to relax your mind. There are ways to ground anywhere, however, and it’s a tool I often use to calm myself when I feel an anxiety attack beginning, or I’m just overwhelmed. Even if you only have a few minutes, there are ways to relax by grounding:
- Breathe slowly and steadily from your core, counting from 1 to 10 on each inhale. On each exhale, imagine your fear, worry, and stress leaving and getting smaller.
- Eat or drink something that can be savored slowly. Is it hot, or cold? Sweet, or sour? Allow yourself to be fully mindful and concentrate on the experience of eating or drinking it.
- Write out what’s going on. This is the one that personally helps me the most: Often, I get overwhelmed when there are too many things on my to-do list and I can’t keep them straight. I’m so afraid I’ll forget if I don’t do it all now that I can’t concentrate on anything else. Writing it all down makes me feel as though I’m more in control and that I won’t forget. This also works if you need to vent; even if you can’t share your problems with another person, writing them down can help you get them out and feel better.
- If you’re near a window, take a look outside. Count the number of trees and street signs. Observe each car passing by – what color is it?
- What normally calms you? Think about it, and how you feel when you’re doing it. Remember that there’s much more to life than what’s currently happening. You can get through this.
Even giving yourself only 5 minutes of rest in a hectic, stressful day can mean a world of difference. You can do what I’ve suggested or do whatever else works for you the best! Even the most negative days can end on a positive note if you find a way.
“You’re not going to master the rest of your life in one day. Just relax. Master the day. Then just keep doing that every day.” ~ unknown
