Managing stress and building resilience

There are some things you can do to help manage your stress and cope when you're under pressure.

Some of us may refer to our ability to manage stress as our resilience. But there are things that might make it harder to be resilient. These include experiencing discrimination or lacking support.

This page covers:

This page is part of our guide to:

Stress

My advice would be if you’re feeling stressed, be kind to yourself, everything starts with you.

Tips for managing stress

Trying these ideas won't make all the stress in your life disappear. But they could make it easier to get through stressful situations.

Identify your triggers

Working out what triggers stress for you can help you anticipate problems. And you can think of ways to solve them. Even if you can't avoid these situations, being prepared can help.

Take some time to reflect on events and feelings that could be contributing to your stress. You could do this on your own or with someone you trust. You could consider:

Issues that come up regularly and that you worry about, such as paying a bill or attending an appointment
One-off events that are on your mind a lot, like moving house or taking an exam
Ongoing stressful events, like being a carer or having problems at work
Something that you're worried about happening again, such as going back to a place where you had a bad experience

You might be surprised to find out just how much you're coping with at once.

Remember that not having enough work, activities or change in your life can be just as stressful a situation as having too much to deal with.

Stressed about exams? We have info for young people to help you cope with exam stress at school or college

Go to young people's page

Organise your time

Adjusting the way you organise your time could help you feel more in control of any tasks you're facing. And more able to handle pressure.

Identify your best time of day. Do the important tasks that need the most energy and concentration at that time. For example, you might be a morning person or an evening person.
Make a list of things you have to do. Arrange them in order of importance, and try to focus on the most urgent first. Some people find creating a timetable useful so they can plan when they can spend time on each task. If your tasks are work related, ask a manager or colleague to help you prioritise. You may be able to push back some tasks until you're feeling less stressed.
Set smaller, achievable targets. When we feel stressed, it's easy to set ourselves large or unrealistic goals. This might be to try to overcome the situation that's making us feel stressed. But often, this can make us feel more stressed and frustrated, if we don't reach the targets we set. Setting smaller, more achievable goals can help us feel more satisfied and in control.
Vary your activities. Balance interesting tasks with more mundane ones. And balance stressful tasks with those you find easier or can do more calmly.
Try not to do too much at once. If you take on too much, you might find it harder to do any individual task well. This could make you feel even more stressed.
Take breaks and take things slowly. It might be difficult to do this when you're stressed. But it might help you deal with things better and get through a stressful situation.
Ask someone if they can help. For example, you could ask a friend or family member to help with some of your daily tasks. That will give you more time to spend completing your tasks that are causing you to feel stressed.

I take my lunch and get out of the office and I feel that I have a right to do this because it makes me more productive.

Try to address some of the causes of stress

There will probably be lots of things in your life that you can't do anything about.

But there might be some things you can do to improve or resolve some of the issues that are causing you stress.

We've information and tips on:

Accept the things you can't change

It's not easy but try to accept that there are some things happening to you that you probably can't do anything about. This will help you focus your time and energy more productively.

Look after your wellbeing

Taking care of our wellbeing can help us feel more able to manage stress. Different things will work for different people, but these are some ideas you could try:

Be kind to yourself. Learning to be kinder to yourself can help with how you feel in different situations. Try to take breaks in your day for things you enjoy. And reward yourself for your achievements, even if they seem small.
Try to find time to relax. This might feel hard if you can't do anything to stop a situation that's making you stressed. But if you can allow yourself a short break, this can help with how you feel. Our page on relaxation has some tips and exercises you could try.
Develop your interests and hobbies. Spending time on things you enjoy could help distract you from a stressful situation. If stress is making you feel lonely or isolated, shared hobbies can also be a good way to meet new people. Our pages on loneliness have some tips to try.
Spend time in nature. This can help to reduce stress and improve wellbeing. You could try going for a walk in a green space, taking care of indoor plants, or spending time with animals. Our nature and mental health pages have more information.
Look after your physical health. Getting enough sleep, staying physically active and eating a balanced diet can make stress easier to manage. Stress can sometimes make these things difficult to look after. But even small changes can make a big difference. Our sleep problems and physical activity, exercise and mental health have more information.

Our information on how to improve your mental wellbeing has more tips to support yourself.

Mental health apps

There are lots of wellbeing apps out there. Some could help you feel calmer, and help manage difficult symptoms.

But it's hard to know which ones are worth trying. So we've created the Mind app library where you can find safe, trustworthy apps.

Explore mental health apps

Build your support network

Research shows that having a good support network can help to build resilience and make stress easier to manage.

This support could include:

Friends and family. Sometimes telling the people close to you how you're feeling can make a big difference. They might be able to help with some of the things causing you stress.
Support at work. For example, this may be from your manager, human resources (HR) department, union representatives or employee assistance scheme. Your wellbeing is important and responsible employers should take it seriously. If you're worried that your workplace might not be supportive, our page on work and stress has some guidance that may help. The Health and Safety Executive's Stress and mental health at work may also help. And the Stress Management Society has information and guides available on its website too.
Support at university or college. For example, this could be from your tutors, student union or student services. See our pages on student life and mental health for more tips on getting support as a student.
Peer support. If you're finding things hard, talking to people who have similar feelings or experiences can help. This could be face-to-face at a peer support group, or through an online community like Mind's Side by Side. You can find out more on our pages on peer support groups for mental health.

Take action in your community

Sometimes, our stress might be caused or made worse by problems in our community. For example, a lack of access to services. Taking action against these problems can help how we feel in ourselves, as well as supporting others.

When we're very stressed, these things might not feel possible. And at any time, they might feel tiring or stressful themselves. But if you feel able to do so, things you could try include:

Mind campaigns. Visit our campaigns page to find out how we're campaigning for change, and how to become a campaigner.
Community groups. There might be campaigns or volunteering projects to improve your local area and community. Do IT has information on volunteer groups in your area. Or visit myCommunity for information on how to set up a community group.
Take part in local decisions. Your area may have regular meetings of local, parish or town councils. You can often attend these meetings to have a say in decisions affecting your community. You can find your local council on the GOV.UK website.
Write to your MP. You can contact your local member of parliament (MP) to tell them about a problem in your area and ask them to take action. The UK Parliament website has information on when and how to contact your MP.

I need to take on enough challenges to keep me interested and engaged with the world, but not too many to the point where I am exhausted.

Barriers to resilience

The terms 'resilience' and 'managing stress' can mean different things to different people. We might understand them differently because our experiences shape how we feel stress, and how easily we can respond to it.

Some people may think that our response to stress is something that we can all easily control. But this isn't true. There are some causes of stress that are beyond our control. And some ways of managing stress and building resilience are not always available to us.

This makes dealing with stress very personal – it may be harder for some of us than for others. Experiences that can make it harder include:

Having a long-term physical health condition
Having a mental health problem
Experiencing discrimination and hate, including racism, homophobia, biphobia or transphobia
Living far away from family or friends, or having difficult relationships with them
Experiencing loneliness
Experiencing money worries, including debt or problems with benefits
Living in an area with poor access to services like healthcare, public transport and green spaces
Being a single parent
Being a carer
Having poor quality housing
Lacking safety and protection, such as living in areas with poor policing

Research shows that it's easier to develop resilience if we don't face these barriers. But many of these things are difficult or impossible to change.

Remember: if you face these barriers, this isn't your fault. And it's not up to you to remove these barriers yourself.

Support for causes of stress

There may be different areas of your life that make you feel stressed. Some of these might feel difficult to change on your own, or without support and advice on what to do next.

We have lots of information to help you find support in different areas of your life, including:

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