I see it time and time again—five causes of stress that continually pop up in mine and my client’s lives. Stress is a really big deal and it’s something that we have to learn to look at from all viewpoints.

Now that stress has been linked to a majority of disease states and having issues overall, we really have to look at what the causes are. What is the root cause? We don’t want to put bandaids on things. We need to get in front of issues so that we can work with it and build that stress resilience that we’re looking for.

Let’s get into these causes so we can overcome them!

1. No plan and no strategy. 

This pertains to any area of life. It might be in health and wellness. It could be in career and business or finances. It also could be in relationships. But there’s really no plan or step-by-step strategy in place.

It’s important to find someone who you can model a strategy after. What expert are you modeling? Has that person been through what you’re going through and did they get the results you want? What were their strategies? If you model after success, you’re able to really break it down into these sizeable steps so you can get that result you’re looking for.

2. No routine or habits in place. 

This is a big aspect and it doesn’t take much to create a routine or habits, especially if you have a lot of stress going on.

I always like to refer back to the four stages of learning from Maslow. When we look at stage three, we really have this conscious competency. This is when we can see a strategy, but we have to put some effort in to make it unconscious competency (automatic).

That’s what we’re really striving toward so that we’re not having to think about it. When it becomes a routine, it becomes a habit. And then it becomes easier. In the beginning of any strategy, you actually want to do easy steps to gain confidence to keep moving forward, because we really want that momentum.

3. Lack of execution and follow-through. 

In any area of life, you’ve got to be able to execute and have follow-through. I think when we’re on our path, it’s like being on a horse. We have clarity. We’re going down a strategy. We have our path. Things are going to come into your life and you’re going to be thrown off that horse. What I’m curious about is how quickly can you get back on your path or your horse?

A lot of times, we’re trying to prevent things from happening. I think that’s just going to happen and we have a choice to respond or react. What are the strategies so that you can get back on your path, follow-through, and execute?

4. No movement. 

Movement, exercise, and even walking or stretching gives us energy. When we’re dealing with things, especially if you have chronic pain, stress, or you don’t have time, you might feel like, “I’m so tired. I don’t have the energy to exercise,” but getting movement is going to give you energy.

We have to shift that belief and look at these beginnings steps to understand how can we gain confidence. I know for me, when I was having a lot of issues with my body and I couldn’t even walk a block without pain, my goals became a lot more simplified because I’ve had to stop comparing how I was before or where was I five years ago. You’ve got to start small and work up from that. I remember when I could walk a block without pain, so the next week, my goal was to walk two blocks. 

5. Eating an inflammatory diet.

This is something that I go into major detail in the Harmony Method®️ because this is how I healed my body and got my mental focus back. I was able to lose weight. I was able to have all-day energy, sleep better, and heal on a certain level after learning about nutrition.

I was making choices every day on what to put in my mouth. The food that I was putting in my mouth was creating my experience. We can look at our disease management system versus a prevention wellness system. If you’re healthy, hardy, and have a robust amount of health, we don’t really have to do much.

The protocol is to eat whole foods, organic foods, anything that has five ingredients or less, and no refined foods. You have a lot to choose from. It’s when we’re in a disease state or there’s an issue in our body, we have to adjust to these different protocols. Remember to choose foods in moderation and focus on what’s sustainable.

So how do you navigate this inflammatory diet? Because there are many different ways. You have to find your way and what is sustainable for you.

There are more causes of stress that I see, these are just some things to think about. What do you do to handle your stress? Let me know in the comments!