I just want to share a few things that I do on a daily basis. Things that help me cope with the stress of the moment. We all know that the time we are in now is not easy. So I think sharing some of my routine, some of the things I do on a daily basis, Will help someone out there. How I cope with stress.

I’m in the frontline as a healthcare professional and also being a single mom of five. It’s not an easy task, especially now that they are in quarantine or have their homework to do for any mother or father anyway, it’s not easy coping with the stress, coping with the tensions, and being surrounded with colleagues that are kind of afraid, worried because of the current Covid-19 Pandemic.

So how do we cope with all the bad news that we hear, all the negative conversations we are being forced to listen to. Some of these conversations even if you don’t want to. So how do you protect your energy? How do you protect your mental health from all these spiritual viruses?

Because on one side, you have coronavirus to fight, an invisible enemy you are fighting. You don’t know how to fight an invisible enemy. In the sense that you don’t know where or how it would come in contact with you. So it creates tension. It creates panic. I try to understand all the people around me. My colleagues. And so I know it’s not easy for any of them. I’m not trying to judge anyone because we have different level of grace. We have different level of inner strength, strong will or mental strength.

So one thing I do when I notice that I’m being really stressed is I try to put a pause to all the hectic lifestyle . All the rat race lifestyle. You know, being busy all the time is not good to our health. And certainly when you are no longer in your twenties. So how do you cope? I tried to have some rest. I tried to have some sleep. And sleep can be like four hours. It can be five hours. It can be eight hours. It depends on your body.

So if you feel like sleeping for four hours, you are OK, fine. If you feel sleeping for eight hours, that will be okay for you, your body will respond. When you have enough rest, your body will tell you. You will feel it. So one of the ways I cope with stress is I sleep. I off everything.

And my kids, they know. My children they know once I want to sleep, I would tell them; “mom, want to have some rest.” They won’t disturb me. Even when they want to come into my room to take something. They’ll do it silently so that they don’t wake me up. And I really thank God for the children I have because, they helps me a lot. Without them, I don’t know how I would be coping with all the stress. I have the small one that is around six years old and she would always want to come into the room whenever I’m in bed. So the older ones, they tried to help, you know, by holding her. So that’s one of the things I do that helps me cope with stress, because many times many people say to me, how do you manage to stay…, you’re always smiling. You are always positive. How do you manage? They say it’s an extraordinary Grace, you know, so that’s one of the reasons why I want to make this video.

God helps those that help themselves, they say. Grace is there. Grace is always available, but you need to help yourself, too. So one of the things I do is Rest. So Rest can be sleep, while for some people there are other things that you can also do as rest. But there are people that maybe they don’t have anything doing. Those that are not working, they don’t have children, they are at home and they sleep most of the time. And after sleeping they get up even more stressed, even more bored, more tired, you know.

And a lot of things.

So the next thing on my list is; I try to meditate.
I do meditate. Meditation will help you to quiet the mind, you know. Meditation will help you to be still. To still all the crazy conversations going on in your head. Meditation helps you to go within, you know, when we are praying, we are the one talking, but when you are meditating, you quiet your mind. Then you can listen. And when you can listen, that’s when you can hear God. That’s when you can hear your soul, when you can hear your spirit – you communicate, you go WITHIN.

Meditation is what I will advice each and every one of us to try to do more, especially in a time like this. Okay.

That next one on my list is. I think I’ve said that. Quiet time! Meditation is part of my quiet time. Quiet time can also be picking up a good book and read. Quiet time can be just relax and listening to a good music. It can be you watch a movie you like. Quiet time can be ‘not doing’ anything at all. Just stay quiet.

Many people are scared of solitude. Many people are scared of that alone time. They will do everything to make sure that they are in the midst of people. In midst of the crowd, noises, confusion, you know, that’s how they cope with stress. I don’t know why, but I have noticed that so many people will do anything to avoid being alone, spending time alone. Spending time by themselves, having that quiet time. You know, I call it solitude.

Solitude has helped me in the past. It has helped me to discover the woman I am. Solitude has helped me to think, to reflect over so many thing, so many issues. Solitude has helped me to find answers that no one could have given me. You know, solitude has helped me to grow a lot. It has helped me in my spiritual journey, you know, in my spiritual awakening, in my enlightenment, Becoming Aware, becoming aware of my surroundings, becoming aware of my purpose for existence. Why am I here? Why am I on this earth? Why am I in a time like this? Why did God create me to be here?

Solitude will help you discover a lot of things about yourself. Solitude has helped me to discover my potentials. It has helped me to discover my gifts. It has helped me to discover what my soul desires. What my soul craves for.

Solitude: I can write a whole book on what solitude has helped me to discover and to achieve..

And so that is more reason why I love spending time in the nature. You know, I love spending time alone by myself. I enjoy that my ALONE TIME. It helps me nurture my soul. It helps me nurture my INNER SELF. You know, many people would do everything especially we women. We’ll do everything to beautify our OUTER SELF. How about your inner self? So spending quiet time helps me to NURTURE my inner self, you know, to beautify my inner self. And I believe that once the inner self is beautified, It reflects on your outer. So but I will talk on this topic another time. For now, I just want to center my topic on how I cope with stress.

So the next one on my list is; I spent time in the nature. I spent a lot of time by the riverside, in the park. So I love coming to the park Just to spend quality time by myself.

Another one is DRINKING. I make sure that I drink. At least the quantity that’s my body needs. You don’t have to introduce 20 liters of water in your system just because they say you should drink. So I drink at least two litters , not just of water. Which means having fruit juice (smoothie), you know, not just drinking water. You can make like Lipton tea. Sometimes, I prepare I prepare things like Curcuma, Cumin, Ginger and I put Green Tea and lemon or lime. I squeeze a little bit and then I drink it. I also love fruit and vegetable mix (smoothie) I take them a lot. I make sure I take enough quantity of liquid.

They say; You are what you eat. So our body is made up of more than 75 percent of water. So the more you drink, the better for your body system.

The next one is EXERCISE. You need to take at least 20 minutes a day to exercise. I do workout, you know, now I can’t go to the gym. I normally go to the gym with my girl. The senior one. But because of the lockdown and restrictions, the gym is closed. I love going to gym cos I love staying when I see other people exercising, it MOTIVATES me more to do my own part of exercise or WORKOUT. Now I do what I can at home. The most important thing is that I wokout, like, for example, I do STRETCHING.

So another one is WALKING. You need to go out and walk. Walking doesn’t mean when you are on errand or when you are busy doing one thing or the order, you know, like we that work in the hospitals, when you are on duty of- let’s say seven hours, you are walking up and down. That’s not the kind of walk I’m talking about, you need go out in a place in and take in sone fresh air.
TAKE a STROLL, you know, just walk. Spend time outside, spend time in THE NATURE, spend time, you know, take in as much of the fresh unpolluted air as you possible.
Thank God for the lockdown we now can breathe fresh and unpolluted air. Take in as much sunlight as you can. It helps. That’s one of the things I do to cope with stress.

So the next one is MINDING your EATING HABITS. I’m very mindful of what I eat. As they say, you are what you eat. So I eat a lot of vegetables. I eat a lot of fruits, alao fish, and meat. Yes. And the kind of meat that I eat is more of white meat.

I’m very mindful of how I cook and what I eat. I don’t eat anyhow. I prefer QUALITY over QUANTITY.

So the next one is; I MIND WHAT MATTERS by DOING WHAT MATERS.
I avoid drama. I try to avoid DRAMA FILLED PEOPLE. I try to avoid CONFUSION. I have to PROTECT my energy from ENERGY VAMPIRES. That will like to feed on your eneegy… Do you know how ENERGY VAMPIRE feed? They FEED on your FEAR. They feed on your problems. They will engage you in discussing any negative news. They are carriers of negative news. Every day, every moment what comes out from their mouth is NEGATIVE, NEGATIVE, NEGATIVE.

They have nothing good to say. In every problem, they never see a solution. They always see the cup, not even half-full, EMPTY!
They see the world ending tomorrow. And they were not there when God created the world. You know, they want to tell you that the bible said that the word is going to end tomorrow. While Jesus said; not even him, not even the angels but the Father that knows when the world shall end.

So I do my best to avoid these type of people. I try to avoid those kind of drama especially that this coronavirus madness of a thing. I do everything in my power to protect myself. To PROTECT my INNER peace. I choose where to invest my energy. I choose where to invest my resources.

So when you can mind what matters. It REDUCES STRESS because your energy is CONTAINED. You don’t waste your energy spending time on what really doesn’t matter. So that’s one of the things…

Don’t forget to WATCH my videos and SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube channel and also check out my books on Amazon and also on my website. WWW..AUGUSTINAEKWUNIFEMINISTRY.COM

I have a new book that is just recently published. It talks about how I cope with the stress of this coronavirus outbreak. How we that are in the frontline, how we manage. And I choose to be POSITIVE. I choose FAITH OVER FEAR and I try to encourage people. To lift their spirits up, you know. And that is what I shared in the book. You will you enjoy it. The book is a fast read. Its just 60 pages. Go and check it out on Amazon. Thank you so much. Stay blessed. Stay strong. Stay on top. We are in this together and together we are coming out STRONGER…

Don’t let fear pull you down. Don’t let all the bad news drain your vital energy. Energy is everything and your energy is very important. So mind where you invest your time, your energy and your resources. Stay positive Bye for now!