Overcoming Stress & Negative emotions when trying to conceive

Everyone goes through ups and downs, stress and negative emotions throughout our lives.

Struggling with infertility or just simply trying to get pregnant brings about various emotions, and it’s common to feel stress, anxiety and fear dealing with uncertainty in every step.

Having struggled with infertility, I truly understand and have gone through the rut for years. But I overcame it and became stronger, never looking back but embracing the past experiences that made me who I am today.

First of all we need to understand how stress and negative emotions affect our bodies. Constantly being stressed up or dwelling in those emotions can take a toll on our body causing all sorts of health issues, and if undealt with for prolongs periods will affect fertility.

It may seem impossible to relax, but there are some really simple techniques you can incorporate into your daily life to help you through whatever your current situation may be.

Be Mindful - Observe yourself.

What makes you stressed up, worried or frustrated?

How do you react when you are caught in a difficult situation or intense moment?

Once you’ve identified these, be mindful whenever you get into a similar situation and take a moment to Breathe and Pause before your react. Consider if this is something worth getting stressed or worked up over, is it worth harming your body over it?

Often times the answer is NO. Take a step back and let that emotion pass before trying to deal with it or react to it.

Being mindful throughout the day can help us pay more attention to our emotions, count our blessings and find joy in small victories from overcoming a stressful situation without being stressed up or reacting to it.

 

Be Aware – Control your thoughts.

It’s easy to get caught up in worry and all sorts of negative thoughts when trying to conceive or even just through everyday life. Again, take a step back and observe your thoughts rather than running with them and getting carried away.

Practice being aware and detach yourself from any negative thoughts, then move on. What you dwell and focus on expands and becomes part of your life.

Shift your focus to something else that truly matters. We can’t control many things in life, but we can control and make a choice on what we put our focus on.

One method I learned is to ask myself “what’s the worst that could happen?” Then, thinking of possible outcomes and often coming to two conclusions:

1.       It’s not as bad as I thought, it won’t really do me any harm

2.       It’s something beyond my control

Once I’ve done that, I’ll leave that thought or worry there and move on.

Often times our worries don’t materialise and if you had looked back and analysed yourself you would realise the time and energy wasted because of the lack of awareness to control our thoughts.

 

Breathe – Deep long breaths

Take a slow long deep breath in while counting to five, then breathe out slowly counting to five again. Repeat this for five to ten minutes, or however long you need to clear negative thoughts, anxiousness, nervousness or stress.

This might sound simple, we all need to breathe. But many times when feeling anxious or stressed, we “forget” to breathe tend to take only shallow breaths which deprive our bodies from oxygen. Oxygen helps our brain to calm and relax, hence deep breathing is a good way to lower stress.

Do this everyday even when you are feeling OK, so when stress hits, this breathing technique will come naturally and it will get easier to calm down each time and move on.

 

Practice, Practice, Practice

I know… I know…. the techniques mentioned above are easier said than done. But I’ve been through it and it works! I’m not saying you will instantly be stress free without a single worry, life goes on… and throws lemons at you when you least expect it. But being mindful and taking control of your thoughts can make a difference.

Start practicing today and make it a habit. It may take time, but don’t give up! The more you practice the easier it gets and you might even find yourself no longer getting stressed up or anxious about things that bothered you in the past.

I hope you’ll try it out and find peace and calmness in whatever you may be going through in life right now.

Do you have any techniques you use to relax and stay calm? Let me know in the comments below.

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