Stress affects all of us at one time or another, so here are some daily stress management tips.

A duotoned dark purple and beige version of the Apple cloud emoji, in front of a light blue circle background

I discovered the VIA Calendar of Stress Management Tips this morning, and was inspired to create my own version — then naturally the next step was to share it here, in case it could be useful to anyone of you fine people. (Hopefully it is!)

Each tip is designed to be a prompt for that day, but this could also act as a shopping list to pick from as you like. You do you.

Stress Management Tips

Body

  • Do 10 minutes of stretches
  • Take a bath, spa or go for a swim
  • Eat only healthy food today
  • Drink 2 litres of water today
Photo of a hot pink flower with six petals and darker purple veins, shown up close
Getting up close n’ personal with a flower

Heart

  • Call, text or email a friend you haven’t seen for a while
  • Tell someone you love them
  • Send a postcard
  • Listen to a song that makes you feel nostalgic
Photo of a woman hugging a man around his waist with a big ol' cheesy grin on her face
This is me and my other half <3

Mind

  • Meditate
  • Play a word game like Wordle, brain teaser like Sudoku, or do a crossword
  • Read a few pages of a book (or listen to an audiobook)
  • Do a puzzle, or play a board game
Photo of a board game player board showing hand drawn roads and railway lines
Railroad Ink is a new addition to our game collection

Learn

  • Listen to a podcast about health or self-improvement
  • Try Duolingo (or another language learning app)
  • Watch a TED talk
  • “Interview” a knowledgeable friend on a topic
A photo of a bright yellow floor during a panel talk, showing crowd members listening intently
An Mpavilion panel talk

Nature

  • Spend 5 minutes examining a plant or flower
  • Connect with the earth by laying down, or standing barefoot
  • Go for a walk, ideally at sunrise or sunset
  • Sit in your garden or a park and watch for birds
Photo of a glorious sunset of a cityscape seen from across a bay
A particularly glorious sunset on Waiheke Island

Creative

  • Look at some art
  • Make something
  • Write a short story, or a haiku
  • Draw something
Photo of a sketchpad with an array of black line illustrations coloured in various neons, including a pyramid, an octopus and a toothbrush
My recent attempt at drawing some things

Self

A photo of post it notes above a computer screen which read authenticity, caring, learning, sharing and movement
My personal values

Your turn!

There are two versions here: the prefilled option (PDF), or a blank template for you to either copy the Google Doc (to adapt for yourself), or download the PDF (to write on directly). Enjoy!