This blog post is by guest blog author Silviu Costea

Things around you might feel like they are speeding out of control. There are endless to-do lists, dozens of people to meet, and the list goes on. Do you recognize yourself in this?

Many experience feeling the world around them moving at an increasingly higher pace. And they struggle to keep up. One common solution is to try to respond and move faster ourselves. However, in this article, we encourage you to try the opposite!

Here are 3 things you can do to slow down and find the calmness you need.

1. Slow down and savor the world around you

Living a fast paced life can be stressful, especially when you have many appointments to make it to. All this stress can have negative effects on you and your body such as higher cortisol levels (stress hormone), higher blood pressure, poorer immune system, and poorer cognition.

The antidote for this is slowing down! When you are walking to your next meeting or appointment, take a look around you. Listen to the birds or the sounds around you, look at the nature or buildings around you, enjoy the smells of the trees or that of a bakery that you might be passing. Find those enjoyable sensations and focus on them. This will allow your mind to rest, and reduce your stress levels.

2. Clarify your priorities

Take a moment to think about what are the truly important things for you. Sometimes we find ourselves trying to achieve a lot of goals because “one must do so.” Take a few minutes to write down the 5 most important things in your life right now. Then try to see how your current goals relate to the 5 things you wrote. Prioritize them in such a way that you put your energy in the most important things in life. Whatever those might be for you.

3. Find what works for you

Remember that slowing down looks differently for everyone. Try to identify the areas in which you have the opportunity to practice slowing down. Try to be creative. Some ideas to get you going are reading a book in a slower pace, driving your car more slowly, doing breathing exercises (breathing more slowly), eat more slowly, or walk more slowly.

Have you tried any of these tips? Did they work for you? What other things do you do to cope with stress? Head over to our social media channels and leave your answers in the comments!

Advice inspired by Susan Avery Stewart’s article “Slowing Down as the World Speeds Up” at Psychology Today