A side effect of stress is using up micro nutrients.

As certain nutrients exhaust, like cobalt + chromium, this increases stress till a snowball effect can occur... with many... oddball endpoints best avoided. Incarceration + institutionalization come to mind.

Meditation is a great tool.

Ponder this... If you're alive, everything's truly good. If you're dead, well no use reading further.

I manage my stress through quieting my mind + also avoiding any food stressors which accelerate burning micronutrients.

Simple guideline. Avoid eating anything with a face or any product from a critter with a face. So no mystery cadaver or cadaver squeezings (dairy).

I took a very long step myself.

Creating a Super Food company which imports ingredients from all over the world + shipping finished products back out all over the world.

No requirement for you to do this. Just locate all the best Super Foods you can find + design your own Super Food brews (fluid based products), till you find the sweet spot of nutrients for your body.

This tends to be a life long adventure, once you start, as the cleaner you eat, the more your body + nutrient desires will evolve/refine.

Just enjoy your wild ride.

First, congratulations. A lot of mixed emotions come along with a major career change. The best way for you to manage the stress depends, in part, on your preferences and experiences.

There is a quote that comes to mind by William James - "The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another." Meditation can be a useful practice for reducing the stress that comes with change and helping us to recognize when we can choose "one thought over another.".

Other practices to consider include spending time in nature - walking or hiking, moving your body through other activities you enjoy like biking, running, yoga, or tai chi. Hot or warm baths, a cup of tea... Indulging in those things on a regular basis that bring you joy - art, for instance, can help to center you during transition periods and bring you to a calmer place.

Eating healthy and well, getting good sleep, and maintaining connections with those who are dear to you can have a significant positive impact on your stress levels as well.

Feel free to reach out to me if you have follow up questions.

All the best,
Stephanie

Functional Exercise: I've become a huge fan of this form of exercise and have relied on it to help me keep a calm mind during a major career change. I went from a practicing physician to a health insurance executive. While my work day, KPI's and professional identity changed, I kept up with a daily 45 to 60 min functional exercise routing.

Functional fitness exercises train your muscles to work together and prepare them for daily tasks by simulating common movements you might do at home, at work or in sports. While using various muscles in the upper and lower body at the same time, functional fitness exercises also emphasize core stability. Examples of the exercises range from simple such as a push up to complex, like the Turkish Getup.

Just like there are CrossFit gyms, there are functional exercise gyms. To save money, you can also Google YouTube videos on the exercises and purchase the affordable equipment such as kettlebells through Amazon. However, many of the exercises don't require equipment.

I have a daily set of 12 exercises in an Excel spreadsheet to help stay organized. The workouts serve as a piece of consistency in my life and something I structure otherwise ever-changing days around.