DAY 37: Chill Out

The next step of the Beck Diet Solution is learning to reduce stress.

Dr. Beck doesn't explain how reducing stress will directly improve dieting, but since less stress makes life better in general, I'm all for it. She offers these 3 steps to lower stress levels:

1. Solve the Problem.
   Fight stress by revisiting the My Priority Chart to reduce your demands or responsibilities and by using the Seven Question Technique to resolve the issues that cause stress.
   
   
2. Relax.
   Slow, controlled breathing is the simplest way to release the stress that makes your body tense. Dr. Beck also mentions relaxation techniques such as progressive muscle relaxation or guided imagery.
   
   
3. Change Your Mindset.
   Stop letting unreasonable rules guide your behavior. You can recognize unreasonable rules usually by the use of "should" or "shouldn't", as in "I should always do my best" or "Other people shouldn't treat me unfairly". Dr. Beck recommends relaxing self-imposed rules as well as rules for others, using these steps:
   
   
   • Model yourself after someone with more relaxed standards (a la WWJD, I guess).
   • Think about how your loved ones would suffer if they imposed similar rules on themselves.
   • Think of the advantages of changing your rules.
   • Remove the words always and never from your rules.
   • Insert the word reasonable into your rules.
   • Recognize you can't control other people, only yourself.
   • Change should and shouldn't to "It's realistic to expect that..."

I am a very tense person, and I've been using breathing exercises for a while. And now that I've experienced the usefulness of the Seven Question Technique to solve problems, I'll definitely be reducing more stress that way. But changing my mindset... That's one I've been battling for years now. It is the most important step to reducing stress in my life, though, so I will keep at it (rereading this step again and again probably).

For additional help, I also created this Response Card (because I said this exact sabotaging thought to a friend a few days ago):

Sabotaging Thought: If I lower my expectations for myself, I'll become completely unmotivated.
Helpful Response: It's not all or nothing. I don't have to lower my expectations completely, just enough to reduce my stress.

And another step for reducing stress, that Dr. Beck doesn't mention, is exercise. For me, a long walk does wonders for putting problems into perspective and working out the tension in my body. And that clearly will directly improve dieting!