Young people face many pressures that it’s no wonder some of them struggle with their mental and emotional health. Adolescence is a confusing time, during which you phase out of the freedom of childhood and take on similar roles as an independent adult. Academic, social, family and career pressure can feel like a burden, and developing healthy coping mechanisms is essential for your physical and psychological wellness. These stress relief tips for young adults can help them maintain useful strategies for handling the unique pressures that they’re under.
Practice Awareness
Some stress relief tips for young adults don’t include the importance of bringing awareness to the problem. You need to be able to identify a problem to change it.
Many young people are so overwhelmed with emotions that they never stop to pinpoint the cause. Sometimes, childhood trauma and subconscious factors can drive stress from the inside out. If that’s the case, you might want to seek help from a professional counselor or therapist to uncover underlying issues.
However, you can often draw attention to acute stressors just by making a note of them. Consider keeping a journal and writing in it when you feel stressed out. You might want to make a note of how the stress started, what you’re thinking about and how you feel emotionally. Record how you felt in your body when the stress came on, and write down how you responded to the stress and whether anything relieved it.
When you look back on these notes, you might discover patterns or realize that you are already managing your stress levels effectively.
Practice Healthy Habits
Stress relief tips for young adults should focus on instilling healthy habits. It’s easy to fall into unhealthy routines to cope with stress. Eating excessively, skipping meals, smoking, and drinking alcohol are some ways that people respond when they’re feeling pressure. You might even use illicit substances to take the edge off or escape from overwhelming situations.
Although these activities may feel like they help for a short period, they ultimately make things worse. Changing your eating habits can prevent you from getting adequate nutrition, making you feel weak or exhausted. Smoking and drinking can make you sick and lead to health problems that make you cause you to be more overwhelmed. Substance use can trigger mental and physical health problems that seep into every aspect of your life, including your family and social relationships.
Focusing on your health can help you find the energy and motivation to get through the day. When you have that momentum, it’s easier to continue to pursue a healthy lifestyle. When you lose the drive toward healing, you may find yourself plummeting into an overpowering abyss that’s hard to crawl out of.
Don’t Ignore Your Feelings
Even though you have a lot going on, you shouldn’t stuff your emotions away when they feel too intense. One of the most critical stress relief tips for young adults is to allow your feelings to flow through you when they bubble up. If you don’t, they will control you from a subconscious level, and their power might build up to the point that feels impossible to deal with.
Manage stress by opening up to people you trust when you’re feeling the pressure. You can turn to parents, friends, teachers, school counselors, and therapists. It’s normal for young people to feel like they’re on an emotional roller coaster. Voicing your experience can help you learn how to cope before the stress becomes a significant problem.
At Red Oak Recovery®, our treatment staff has the experience to help offer stress relief tips for young adults who are dealing with substance use and other mental disorders. Our holistic services for young adults in North Carolina include:
- Adventure therapy
- Wilderness therapy
- Family therapy
- Group therapy
- Nutrition therapy
- Psychotherapy
To learn more about Red Oak Recovery® and how we work with young people to offer stress relief tips for young adults and help them find empowerment and fulfillment from within, call us at 866-457-7590.
