I do not feel stressed, but I know that I am. Currently we are moving from our home of the last seven plus years, changing roles at work, moving our nonprofit, launching a new nonprofit, fundraising, preparing to homeschool our kids, trying to say goodbye to all of our friends, selling and buying homes, and the list goes on. I say I don’t feel stressed. The fact is that when I came up with the idea for this post, I didn’t. However, a week or two later, as I am editing, I do feel stressed.

I am not trying to impress you or get your sympathy. You have a lot going on too. Like me, you have more than you can handle. You are overwhelmed also. You are stressed!

So, what do we do? How do we overcome being stressed?

Here is what I’m going to do:

1) Sleep – If I don’t do anything else, I am going to focus on getting sleep. This sets the stage for all good (if I do it) or bad (if I don’t) feelings. I can’t control everything around me, but I can do something about my energy level, and it starts with getting a good night of sleep. For me I need at least 7 hours to be in good shape.

2) Eat – I’m going to work on eating healthier foods. If you eat a lot of sweets or drink alcohol too much, you aren’t helping your body out. I don’t remember noticing when I was younger, but now my body tells me whether I give it the nutrients it needs.

3) Exercise – I’m not big on exercising. Like you, I just don’t have time for it. However, since I started light exercise on a regular basis, I have seen my energy level, and health in general, skyrocket. Ironically, the more we exercise, the more energy we have. Go figure.

4) Pray – Once, while at a doctor’s appointment, I was asked by the doctor what I did for a living. I told him ministry. He then asked if I prayed. Sheepishly I admitted that this was a growth area for me, aka “I am horrible at praying regularly.” He told me I should pray more. Yes, a medical doctor told me to pray.

5) Read – Just as what your body consumes has an impact on you, so does what your mind consumes. Don’t just watch TV and movies all the time. Read or listen to positive material. I do podcasts and audiobooks daily. It gets my mind going in a positive direction which helps with the stress. Also, this positive content helps me dream. I think dreaming and coming up with ideas is extremely helpful to combatting stress.

I’m sure there are some other things I should do. I’m going to start small and work this list though. I will probably do it in this order as well, at least until I get to doing all of them.

What about you? What tips do you have for overcoming stress?