Stress Resets: How to Soothe Your Body and Mind in Minutes

You know what happens next week. Just thinking about it now makes your palms sweat and your blood pressure soar. You get mad at yourself for feeling that way, and then you feel guilty for being angry, and there you go: Next week has already moved into your home.

Read “Stress Resets: How to Soothe Your Body and Mind in Minutes” by Jennifer L. Taitz, PsyD, ABPP (Workman Publishing Co., January 2024), and eject that unwanted roommate.

Dread. That’s the only word you know to describe that thing in your life that makes your brain go haywire. It starts there, with dread, and expands to obsession and worse. You hate that you do this and hating just makes things worse.

What if you could stop?

Taitz says we use “countless ways [to] undermine our ability to live better when we face stress.” Chewing your fingernails, overspending – it’s all part of a cycle that we can’t often escape, but in her book you’ll learn some “favorite skills” to help you cope when stress comes at you from all sides.

First, know that “stress is different from anxiety.” The former is what you feel when your emotional sense of balance is off; the latter is more long-term and “can also be a response to stress.”

Next, learn that stress is not your enemy. In fact, you can “make it work for you…”

Learn “distress tolerance” and find out how to “regulate your emotions” by understanding what’s at the core of your feelings.

Learn to spot the “ARC” of your emotions to reframe your feelings as you go. Tame overthinking with a few easy steps.

When things get especially “intense,” Taitz writes, plant your feet and be aware of what you’re thinking and feeling. Make up a song about it, and do a few short exercises, or dance. Examine your assumptions. Hold all calls but be willing to accept help.

Practice coping by giving yourself a “set time and permission” to worry and stress. Laugh, make your bed, notice good things, and find joy.

Does it seem like every single day of this modern world holds twice as many stressors as the day before? Yes, and you’re not alone in that. However, “Stress Resets” shows that there are many ways to endure and even thrive in such turmoil without the use of “substances.” You’ll also be happy that Taitz doesn’t let you descend into any sort of pity party. Her advice is sympathetic, yes, but it’s also no-nonsense, with no highbrow psycho-lingo.

The stress-reset steps outlined in Taitz’s book are easy to understand. They’re not scary and some of them are so simple that you can do them in less than three minutes. Don’t think this is all pop-science-culture stuff: readers wanting a little more depth will find that here, too.

This is the kind of book you’ll want to keep handy when everything starts to feel like it’s piling on too fast. Flip around the pages, pick what you think will work for you, try something else, and have a better week.