Here are some daily strategies to reduce stress and pain. You may be surprised how effective even the smallest change can be.
- Create a consistent routine.
- Eat a well-balanced diet with drinks that are low in calories and caffeine. Plan some healthy snacks in lunches.
- Maintain a regular bedtime and shut off all screens within two hours of bedtime.
- Express feelings. Talk with friends and peers; avoid gossip and hurtful conversations.
- Write in a journal. Express daily gratitude.
- Establish self-care time: create time each day to relax.
- Treat yourself to a simple pleasure (petting an animal, taking a walk, watering the flowers).
- Pair enjoyable activities/tasks with less enjoyable activities/tasks
- Practice specific stress reduction techniques.
- Focus on what is in your control and recognize that you can’t change that which is out of your control.
- Decrease negative self-talk. For example, change “I will never get out of this pain” to “I am in pain now and I am working on my self-care thirty minutes out of every day to improve my health and move toward healing.”