6 Practical Ways to Reduce Your Stress [+ Reclaim Your Sanity, Especially If You Have Littles]

I’m not writing this post because I have all the answers. Or because I’ve discovered the secret to living stress-free. I’m writing this post because I need it just as much as you do. Maybe more. I’m writing it because I’ve found a few key things that have helped me reduce my stress, and I want to share those things in case they help you, too.

These tips can work for anyone, but I’m coming from the motherhood perspective. Truth: being a mom is wonderful + beautiful + a dream come true for me. It’s also the hardest thing I’ve ever done + is incredibly stressful at times. I have three littles and nothing can raise my blood pressure more, leave me begging for some space or make me feel like running away some days, ha.

I hope these tips meet you wherever you are and become tools in your stress reducing toolbox like they have for me.

Let’s dive in..

1.) SET THOSE BOUNDARIES.

I put this first because I believe it’s foundational. If we don’t know how to set boundaries, we will always live in a state of stress.

I’m going to get super personal and give specific examples of how I set boundaries to reduce stress:

I say no to over commitment. I think really, really hard about how plans will play out before I say yes to anything. If I feel anything but a “YES!”, it’s a no.
I leave plenty of margin in our days. Most days we are at home. If we do go somewhere, it’s rarely ever before 10am or after 6pm. No rushing. No early mornings or late nights. No burning the candle at both ends.
I have a firm wake up time for the kiddos. They don’t get to leave their room in the morning until 7:45am and they must be dressed with bed made and teeth brushed. Might sound intense, but it’s what works for us. They can get up and play whenever they want, but they stay in their room with the door closed.
I also have firm nap/quiet time and bed times. For my sake and for theirs! Remember, mama: we’re modeling stress reduction for our kids. Routines that ensure adequate rest + sleep are so important.
I like to keep our weekends mostly free. Rarely do we have something scheduled two weekends in a row.

I could go on, but I think that’s a pretty good peek into how I set boundaries to reduce stress. There’s no one size fits all. It takes trial and error just like most things in life, but I encourage you to find and firmly hold to your boundaries.

2.) CHOOSE A FORM OF MOVEMENT YOU LOVE.

I used to dread working out. Exercising just seemed like a waste of time and left me feeling worse than when I started. Then I learned I was approaching it all wrong. Moving our bodIES should support our health, not harm it. It should help us relax when all is said and done, not cause more stress. Because any stress – whether “good” or bad – is processed by our body in the same way.

So find some movement that supports your body. That doesn’t leave you drained for days afterwards. That doesn’t cause more harm than good.

My favorite way to move is yoga. I practice from home using YouTube videos. I try to do at least 5 minutes a day, if not 15-20 minutes, depending on how I feel.

Some of my other favorite ways to move:

Taking the kiddos on a long morning walk.
Hiking our local trails.
Adding sprints while I’m pushing the jogging stroller.
Fitting in some cardio with a 10-15 minute HIIT workout.

It really doesn’t matter what you do. If it’s something you love and it gets you moving, just aim for consistency. As they say in yoga, “Your daily practice is your strongest practice.”

3.) GET OUTSIDE.

For as much as you can, for as long as you can each day. There are so many studies that show being in nature helps reduce stress. Here’s how I make it happen:

I sit on our front porch first thing, while I hydrate, even if it’s just for five minutes. I get some sun on my face, listen to the birds, take a deep breath and feel much better.
I also like to lay out mid-day on the nicer, warm days. I soak up some vitamin D and drink a tall glass of water. Sometimes I read a book.
The kids and I are generally outside for 4-6 hours a day during nice weather. A few hours in the morning so they can ride their bikes and I can water our plants + gardens or observe the chaos (ha!) while enjoying a cup of something warm. Then a few hours in the afternoon after their quiet time.
Sometimes we go for a morning walk. Sometimes we eat all our meals outside. My main goal is as much fresh air and sunshine as we can stand. Ha.
If you’re working and you spend most of your time inside (I’ve been there!) aim to get some morning time outside before work if you can, step out on your lunch break for 20-30 min and then build an evening walk or dinner on the patio into your routine.

4.) REDUCE PHYSICAL CLUTTER.

This has been a game changer for me. It hasn’t happened over night, but slowly, steadily I’ve minimized our physical clutter. Here are a few things you can do to get started:

Rotate your kids’ toys. I keep a bin for each kiddo that stays up in the closet. Every 4-6 weeks we rotate the toys they have out with the toys in the bins. It’s one for one. I don’t have a specific number of toys they can keep out, but my two major criteria are: 1.) what fits in their toy bin and 2.) what I don’t mind seeing scattered all across the house. Bonus: we also rotate our books so we only have a certain number down at any given time.
Clear off your counter tops. Only keep out what you love and use daily. Bonus: keep the flow going + clear all flat surfaces.
Build a capsule wardrobe. Sell or donate anything you don’t love or need. Check out this post for my top tips for building a capsule you love.
Keep a permanent donation box in your garage. Go through one space a week. When the box is filled, put it in the trunk and take it to donation.
Leave plenty of white space on your walls. I don’t hang stuff just to fill space. I love everything I put on our walls…and I love all the white space just as much.

5.) REDUCE MENTAL CLUTTER.

Do a brain dump once a day. I usually do mine at night before bed or whenever I feel like I have a million thing swimming around in my brain that I need to capture on paper.
Write down your monthly, weekly and daily goals. Get them down in black and white. Make them doable and specific. I also write down any commitments, event, must do’s so I don’t miss anything.
Keep your to do list to your top three tasks. Don’t have a list a mile long. Keep it short and sweet. Build that momentum. Maybe start with a quick task so you have an easy win to get the ball rolling.
Delegate whenever you can. To your spouse, the kiddos, a house cleaner, a personal shopper or meal service, subscription, etc.

More on delegating to your kiddos…

Because, mamas, you need to hear this: our kids are capable of so much and the truth is they want and need to help. They need to feel a part of the family, like they are contributing. Don’t be afraid to give them tasks, to rely on them to do age appropriate work, or even to push them a little bit outside their comfort zones.

My six and three year old routinely make their beds + clean their room, empty the dishwasher, fold and put away laundry, clear their dishes + sweep up under their chairs, pull weeds in our garden, etc. They do it all with ease (note, I didn’t say without complaining, haha) and it’s such a great opportunity to gain a strong work ethic, to learn what it takes to run a household and to realize how important each member is to the success of the whole family.

6.) DE-TOX YOUR EATING (+YOUR HOME ENVIRONMENT).

Okay, this one might be a can of worms, but I had to mention it because it’s made such an impact on my body’s ability to handle stress. I recently had a food sensitivity test done through my doctor and discovered I am highly sensitive to several foods that I eat on a regular basis. I’ve since cut those foods out and I am already seeing improvements. The biggest one so far: better sleep.

I was sleeping horribly before. I was always restless, had hot flashes or night sweats, vivid dreams…just over all crappy sleep. Even when my baby started sleeping routinely through the night. It turns out the foods I was sensitive to were affecting my quality of sleep. And sleep is so, so important when it comes to stress reduction. If we’re not sleeping well, we’re not going to handle stress well. As any new parent knows, ha.

Cleaning up your diet can help to significantly reduce stress on your body. Here are some things I’ve done to clean up my diet:

I cut out all the foods I’m sensitive to: yeast, gluten, wheat, bananas, eggs, all dairy products, and cane sugar. I’m not drinking alcohol and I’ve significantly reduced my caffeine intake.
I drink at least half my body weight in ounces of filtered water daily.
I eat 6-8 servings of veggies a day.
I buy organic, non-GMO, non-conventional food products as much as possible.
I only take high quality supplements (no fillers) + only when I need them.

Keep in mind, this is by no means an exhaustive list and it’s personalized to me. So, don’t just do what I’m doing. I encourage you to find a good functional medicine doctor, get tested and build a clean eating plan that works for you.

Another big thing I’ve done is to clean up our home environment and lighten our toxic load. This also reduces the amount of stress on our bodies. We might not be able to control the rest of the world, but we can control our homes. Here’s what you can do:

Open your windows on the regular. Turn on the fans and get the air circulating.
Wet dust, vacuum and wash bedding + curtains regularly.
Replace any toxic cleaners, laundry products and personal care products (check out the Environmental Working Group (EWG) for ratings) with clean ones. I love Branch Basics for all my cleaning and laundry needs. BambuEarth is my favorite clean beauty company and W3ll People sell some of my favorite clean makeup.
Get a whole house air filtration system or these air purifiers for each bedroom like we did.
Get a whole house water filtration system or this counter top filter we love that removes most contaminants including fluoride.
Buy organic, non-toxic furniture and bedding whenever possible.

Remember: take one step at a time. None of this will happen over night. It’s a journey. Do what you can with what you have and, as time and budget allows, do a little bit more.

And that’s a wrap! Let me know in the comments if you have tips to add or any questions at all.

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