How do you recognize and manage stress?

In my case, I guess I mostly try to avoid it than managing my stress. I try to distract myself in my routine, in writing poems, in listening to music(must), in eating, in the drawing. I know it's not right for my health but yeah it is so difficult to manage it even though I tried to do exercise and other stuff.

I notice my stress level increasing when I can't focus on a project for more than 10 - 15 minutes. This is when I take a break. Sometimes they are short breaks...a walk around the block or even a short trip to the kitchen. Other times, I remove myself for a couple of hours. Whether I work out with a trainer or go complete a household chore that is looming... often just doing something that I can complete helps me move passed the stress that was generating the blocker.

I have a routine that I follow daily that has helped a lot staying in focus and stress free. Not exercising in the morning for example is going to get me moody later in the day. There are some things I do wheneve I feel stressed, such as go through my journal and past steps. If I find that I cannot focus or concentrate at all, I take a break and change context for a while.

Stress comes when things aren't going well. I mostly tend to youtube to see entrepreneurs, describing how they overcame their dark days like Elon Musk describing his companies' scenario in 2008. This gives me a sense of hope that it's all part of the ride. I also try to learn from philosophies like those of Naval's on twitter. Otherwise its mostly trying to speak with the ones close to me.

I'll take a different approach here; shifting my gear from a prescriptive (how-to-do's) approach to finding the truth. I find recognizing the stress a more difficult process, more so what exactly is stressing me out (specifics). Often giving due diligence to introspection and not a superficial analysis. Once I recognize its truth, next is the understanding if it's under my locus of control. From here, we mostly know the subsequent steps and strategies to combat so.

It is mostly easier to see the stress in someone else and give advice/rec's. First - you have to know your body. Hear it. Feel it. Second - As hard as it is, you need to change habbits. There is a saying: First half of your life you spend your health for money, Second half of your life you spend your money for your health. After a heavy burnout before I was 30, I had to change things. Yes, it was damn hard. The hardest and most important one was realizing that I even had one. *Recognize - when habbits, feelings, conversations and your body reactions are not as they usually are. *Manage - Have an overall plan. Write it down. Read it often. To-Do-lists are a great tool - monthly, weekly, daily. Do not overload those. Be realistic. Enjoy striking out bullet points. *Set boundaries - Hours of work. Time for breaks, real breaks - do not sit with your coffee in front of your screen! Keep your 'me-time' with what ever is good for you and elevates your mood. Being offline is nowadays maybe the most important thing we all have to learn and enjoy. So, keep going - but on a healthy way!

Good topic! I read a lot of good suggestions below! Sport and meditation are very good personal coping methods. Social support, share our feelings with others is also vital, we are social beings. And one more thing in terms of burnout and negative (because there’s positive too) stress is to have achievable, realistic goals. Unattainable unrealistic goals can cause tremendous frustration in your daily work.

A good hike up a hill. Make it about 5 miles and get your heart rate over 125 BPM.

Walks in the forest on weekends. Thermal shower. Hobby like knitting - it is really like a meditation.