The comfort and consistency of daily rituals can help you to feel more calm and grounded. Practice some of these daily rituals even when you don’t feel stressed to build resilience and soothe your nervous system.
Routine and daily rituals can help us create healthy habits and let go of stress. When those rituals are small enough to practice daily, it easier to stick with them which helps us make more progress. When we make things complicated or create change that feels too big, it’s easy to procrastinate or believe that we aren’t capable of changing at all. That’s why we have to make change simple and small … tiny even.
The reason I simplified my life wasn’t because I wanted clean countertops or more space in my closet. Those side effects of simplifying were welcomed, but the real reason that I decided to declutter my entire life is because I wanted to live well with multiple sclerosis. Much of my research pointed towards reducing stress. It took years but I simplified everything from my clutter, debt, work and even how I thought about things. Simple rituals and tiny steps make a big difference when it comes to my health and how I live my life.
7 Daily Rituals to Release Stress and Worry
The following daily rituals will help you let go of stress with more ease for a happier life. You can experiment with these seven simple rituals to release stress and worry (without getting overwhelmed).
1. Be still.
From traditional meditation to your own practice of sitting quietly, be still for a little while every day. Listen to your breath, connect with your heart and remember who you are and how you feel. A busy world can easily make you feel disconnected but you can come back to you each day with a few moments of silence. Try an app like Insight Timer for guided meditation or a practice like Transcendental Meditation (I’ve been doing this since 2019) where you sit still for 20 minutes twice a day. Even 5 minutes a day to be still at your own pace, in your own way will help you to release stress and worry.
2. Make a daily gratitude list.
Name the things you are grateful for on a daily basis. This allows you to give more attention to what you have instead of what you lack. I often notice that when I am actively paying attention to a few things I’m grateful for that I need less than I think to feel happy. That makes it easier when it is time to let go of the things I’m stressing about. We often make this simple ritual more complicated by thinking we need to have the right journal or list a certain number of things or do it a way that feels unapproachable. Instead, keep it small. Only list 1-3 things and on the days when you can’t think of anything, repeat items you’ve listed before. Who says you can’t be grateful for the same thing day after day?
3. Share love.
This is similar to a gratitude list but you are magnifying your love and gratitude by sharing it with someone else. Make this simple ritual small enough that you can do it every day. Some ways to share your love might include sending a short message to a family member to simply say, “I love you.” or “I’m glad you are in my life.”
You might resist because you haven’t reached out in awhile and think you have to start with a long call or detailed email but a three word message is easy enough to do and can go a long way. If three words feels like too much, start with a heart emoji. Don’t discount the power of making your simple rituals as accessible as possible. As you get consistent with your love notes and sharing love in other ways (email your favorite author, leave a big tip after a dinner out, or Venmo a friend coffee money), you will feel more loving and loved making it easier to let go of things that aren’t serving you, that aren’t loving and that you don’t really want in your life anymore.
4. Create a daily ritual of creating space.
I used to forget to make space in between appointments and tasks in the name of getting it all done. Now I know that the rest, breath, noticing and healing that happens in between means more to me and positively impacts how I feel, treat people and do my work. Instead of filling up all the spaces in the name of productivity or trying to get it all done, embrace extra space. It’s yours. You need it. You deserve it. When an appointment cancels, or something falls off your to-do list, instead of replacing it, take the space for yourself.
5. Let worry be a ritual.
If the way you stress out is by worrying about everything, contain your worry. Create a space and time for it each day. As things pop up during the day that you want to worry about, save it for tomorrow’s worry ritual. For example, assign 5-10 minutes to review your worries, create any action plans that make sense and then let go of the worries and the stress that comes with them until your next worry ritual.
6. Connect your mind to your body.
Reinforce your mind-body connection with simple rituals. The more connected you are to yourself, the more you will trust yourself to know when it’s time to hold on or let go of something. Somatic therapist, Rachel Shanken from MindBodyWise suggests a mind-body scan. She says, “Pause to notice what you’re feeling in your body. I like to scan starting with my toes and moving all the way up, part by part and tuning in. No need to judge what you notice. No need to change anything. Just noticing is hugely calming for your whole system.” Make this a simple ritual by setting a 3-5 minute timer for the whole scan. If it feels good, you can do it longer later but for now, keep it small.
7. Habit stack your morning and evening routines.
Create a daily ritual out of the first few minutes and last few minutes of your each day. List a few habits for a morning routine and an evening routine. Practice them for a few minutes each day. When your habit stack feels like a nourishing routine, expand them by a few minutes. For instance, start each day with reading, writing and moving for about five minutes each. After a month, try seven or ten minutes each. Choose activities that best serve you and the season of your life.
Close the gap between inspiration and action
If one of these daily rituals sounds interesting to you, close the gap between inspiration and action and put it on your calendar or make it so tiny that you can start right now. Even with a busy day, there is a small step you can take to get one of these daily rituals off the ground.
For instance, if you are reading this on your phone, make your gratitude list in a notes app instead of trying to find a pen and write it down. While you on your digital device, you can send a loving emoji to someone on your mind right now. And finally, if you want to start with number five and try a mind-body scan, close your digital device and give a 3-minute scan a try. Allow these rituals to bring you back to yourself, to hold on to what matters and let go of the rest. You’ve got this!
