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Stress happens. Not to be flip or cliche, but in every life, whether you’re an entrepreneur or not chances are you will experience stress. How you deal with that stress can make a difference in your overall health and productivity.

Here are my tips for dealing with stress in both work and life:

  1. Take a hike. I love being in the out of doors — away from electronic devices and work. I hike the mountains, clear my mind and come back refreshed. Additionally, exercise helps you maintain overall physical and mental health.
  2. Breathe deeply. If you can’t get away from it all and take a walk, push your chair back from your desk and take some deep breathes. When you’re stressed, you tend to take shallow breaths and this leads to muscle tension.
  3. Eat a healthy diet. Eating potato chips when you’re in a stressful situation, won’t help alleviate it. Eating an overall healthy diet, though, can cure a lot of ills and can help boost your immune system and may help you deal with stress better.
  4. Get involved in a hobby. Whether you read or swim or crochet or do woodworking or pottery, having a hobby that you love gives you something to focus on and helps relieve stress and tension.
  5. Stay connected with your friends. When you’re in a highly stressed state it is tempting to isolate yourself. Staying connected, getting out of the house and having coffee at a coffee shop is much better than being alone. Pick up the phone and connect with a friend who is far away. Ask for support if you need it in a stressful time.

At the very least, I recommend taking a ten minute break every hour or two to simply reconnect with yourself, take a walk around the house or the office. Relax. Recharge.

What do you do to relieve stress?