7 Reasons You Are Stressed

It amazes me that with all the advancements in technology, we couldn’t manage to make people less stressed. I think it had quite the opposite effect. People are more stressed than ever.

But we’re not destined to be stressed. The truth is we are in control of whether we feel stressed or not. And it’s actually not as hard as you might think.

With some small adjustments in your mindset and approach to life, you’ll be able to feel substantially less stressed.

And in this letter, you’ll learn how.

Why Are You Stressed?

Have you ever asked yourself that question? Why are you actually stressed? I believe we don’t ask ourselves this question enough. We need to start introspection on our feelings. And we’ll get an answer.

Here are the answers that I got:

1. You Take too long to make decisions

There’s a reason why this is on top of my list. I believe it’s the most important adjustment you can make.

Make decisions faster. I used to procrastinate on decisions so much. I was afraid to be wrong. But many of our decisions don’t have severe consequences.

Such as Deciding what to get in a restaurant, what to wear, what to cook, where to go for the weekend, etc…

These decisions are not as important as you might think. 99% of the daily decisions we need to make are not as important as you think.

2. You don’t focus on things you can control

Every second you spend worrying about things outside your locus of control could be spent doing something productive.

Why does it add stress to your life? Because it signals your body that you’re helpless. That you’re a victim. There’s nothing you can do to change that. That’s a recipe for stress and anxiety.

But by focusing on things you can control, you’ll feel empowered because you actually can change your situation. Feeling in control calms stress. Because you know that you’re in charge.

3. You don’t like your Daily Activities

You sleep for 8 hours. You work for 8 hours. That means 8 hours of “free time”. In these 8 hours, you need to cook, do laundry, do groceries, drive your kids to football practice, etc.… That means YOU DON’T HAVE TIME.

So you better spend your time with things you enjoy. If you work at a place you don’t like, that’s 1/3 of your life that you’re wasting. I’m stressed just by thinking about that.

But unfortunately, that’s the sad reality for most of us. If you’re in a privileged position to have opportunities of where to work, you might as well pick something you like doing.

I know it’s easier said than done, but we need to understand the importance of this. Of course, we are stressed if we spend the majority of our life with things we don’t like. It absolutely should stress you - it’s our body screaming: WAKE UP.

4. You Multitask

There’s a myth out there that you can do multiple things at once. While I understand that it’s possible to some degree, you’ll never be as productive if you do that.

Multitasking is stressful for our body. Our body functions best if it can focus on only one thing at once.

Focusing on multiple things at once will add stress to your life. Your mind will wander, it’ll jump from task to task and therefore end up overwhelmed.

Stop multitasking. Focus on one thing at once.

Deep Work > Busy Work

5. You don’t Plan Your Days

Our mind needs structure. Do you have a calendar? It doesn’t matter if it’s paper or digital, but get yourself one.

Planning your next day is something that is easy not to do. But if we’d understand the importance of it, we’d never go a day without doing it.

There’s nothing better than waking up, making yourself a coffee, and looking at your To-Do List. Seriously, I mean it.

Knowing what I need to do makes me procrastinate less, focus better, and calm my anxiety.

Sitting on the couch, knowing that you did the things on your list, is very calming for your mind. Our mind needs a routine and structure. And it’s happy when it fulfills those.

6. You Don’t Move Your Body

Your body is designed to move. Of course, you’re stressed if you don’t move your body.

There are a few things more stressful for your body than being stagnant. You need to make it a priority to move your body. Because if you don’t, it’s only natural to feel stressed.

7. You Procrastinate

Procrastination is a rough one. Knowing that you should do something but you don’t do it is an invitation for stress.

Not doing something you know you should is just punishment for your body.

Now, there are a lot of reasons for procrastination. Maybe you don’t like what you’re doing? Maybe you’re resisting success?

Whatever it is, you need to catch yourself when you are procrastinating and stop. Then, go back to the task that’s most important. But that takes a lot of discipline.

But I believe if you focus on all the things I listed above, procrastination will not be as much of an issue anymore.

Thank you for reading The Heythem Letter. This post is public so feel free to share it.

Final Words

So, as you can see, these are all things in our control. We need to stop feeling like the victim when we’re stressed.

Because the reality is, most of the time, when we feel stressed, it’s self-produced. And that’s great. Imagine that wouldn’t be the case. Imagine all the stress in your life is outside your control. That’d be terrifying and pretty demotivating.

So implement some of the things mentioned, and you’ll be amazed how much calmer your mind will get.