How to Eliminate Stress

Practical, old-school wisdom for living calmer, healthier, and longer

One of the leading causes of high blood pressure—not just among African Americans, but across the board—is stress. Not the kind of stress that comes from honest work or healthy responsibility, but the needless, self-inflicted strain we pile onto our own backs day after day.

Here’s the good news: while we may not be able to control everything that happens to us, we can control a surprising amount of what happens inside us. Stress isn’t always about what’s going on around you—it’s often about habits, boundaries, and choices that quietly accumulate over time.

The even better news? You don’t need a retreat in the mountains, a prescription bottle, or a guru with a podcast to reduce stress. Much of what works has been known for generations. Our grandparents practiced it instinctively—long before stress became a buzzword.

Let’s talk about a few places where you can act right now to eliminate stress and reclaim a calmer, more focused life.

Don’t Go Looking for Trouble

Mind Your Own Business

This may be the most underrated stress-reduction strategy of all time.

Too many people are stressed because they are emotionally invested in things that are none of their business: other people’s drama, opinions, arguments, lifestyles, and choices. Social media has turned everybody into a commentator, a critic, and a self-appointed referee—and the nervous system is paying the price.

Here’s an old truth:

If it doesn’t require your action, your opinion, or your responsibility—let it go.

Minding your own business is not selfish. It’s healthy. When you stop chasing every controversy and reacting to every headline, you free up mental energy for the things that actually matter: your family, your work, your calling, and your peace.

Stress loves constant engagement. Calm thrives on discernment.

A good rule of thumb:

If you wouldn’t have lost sleep over it 30 years ago, don’t let it rob you of sleep today.

Get Plenty of Rest

Get Your Eight—Don’t Stay Up Late

Lack of sleep is stress in slow motion.

Many people treat sleep like a luxury instead of a necessity. They stay up late scrolling, watching, worrying, or working—and then wonder why they feel anxious, irritable, and overwhelmed the next day.

Your body was designed to reset itself at night. When you consistently short-change rest, your stress hormones stay elevated, your blood pressure rises, and your ability to think clearly declines.

There’s nothing heroic about being exhausted.

Getting proper sleep:

• Improves emotional regulation

• Lowers blood pressure

• Strengthens the immune system

• Sharpens decision-making

• Reduces anxiety and irritability

Eight hours isn’t a suggestion—it’s maintenance.

Turn things off earlier. Set a bedtime like you used to when life was simpler. You’ll be amazed how many problems look smaller after a good night’s rest.

Reduce Alcohol and Caffeine Consumption

Your Body Is Your Temple

Alcohol and caffeine are socially accepted stress multipliers.

A little coffee in the morning? Fine. A glass of wine on occasion? Enjoy it. But excess tells a different story. Too much caffeine overstimulates the nervous system, increases anxiety, and disrupts sleep. Too much alcohol interferes with deep rest, dehydrates the body, and often creates more problems than it solves.

Many people drink to relax, not realizing they are borrowing calm from tomorrow.

Your body keeps score—even when your mind doesn’t.

Treating your body like a temple doesn’t mean living like a monk. It means recognizing that what you put in your body directly affects how you feel, think, and handle pressure.

Hydrate. Eat real food. Moderate stimulants.

Your stress levels will thank you.

Control What You Can—Release the Rest

Worry Is a Killer

Worry is one of the most destructive forms of stress because it produces no solutions—only exhaustion.

Ask yourself this simple question when worry shows up:

Is this something I can control or influence?

If the answer is yes, take action.

If the answer is no, release it.

Carrying the weight of things beyond your control is like trying to steer the weather. It’s exhausting, pointless, and harmful.

Worry raises blood pressure, tightens muscles, disrupts digestion, and steals joy from the present moment. It also has a way of convincing you that thinking about something equals doing something—when it doesn’t.

Peace comes when you do your part and trust the rest.

Plan Ahead

Procrastination Is a Ticking Time Bomb

Few things create more stress than putting off what you know needs to be done.

Procrastination doesn’t eliminate pressure—it postpones it, multiplies it, and adds panic. When tasks pile up, your mind never truly rests. Even when you’re relaxing, your subconscious is whispering, You should be doing something else.

Planning ahead brings relief.

• Make lists

• Prepare the night before

• Schedule important tasks early

• Break big jobs into small steps

Order creates calm. Chaos creates stress.

People who plan ahead don’t live rigid lives—they live freer ones. When you remove last-minute scrambling, you gain margin, clarity, and confidence.

Finish What You Start

Your Subconscious Knows More Than You Think

Unfinished business is silent stress.

Loose ends linger in the back of your mind, draining energy even when you’re not consciously thinking about them. That unopened email, half-finished project, unresolved conversation—it all adds up.

Your subconscious is constantly tracking what’s incomplete.

Completing tasks, even small ones, produces a sense of closure and calm. It tells your mind, This is handled.

Make it a habit to:

• Close loops

• Finish projects

• Address issues instead of avoiding them

Completion is therapeutic. It restores a sense of control and reduces mental clutter.

The Bigger Picture

Stress isn’t eliminated all at once—it’s reduced through daily, intentional choices.

None of these principles are complicated. They’re just often ignored in a culture that glorifies busyness, noise, and constant stimulation. But the most successful, grounded people usually live by simple rules: rest well, mind their business, plan ahead, take care of their bodies, and let go of what they can’t control.

That’s not old-fashioned—it’s wise.

Call to Action

This week, don’t try to fix everything. Choose one area:

• Go to bed earlier

• Cut back on caffeine

• Finish a lingering task

• Stop engaging in unnecessary drama

• Make a simple plan for the week

Small changes, practiced consistently, produce big results.

Your health, your family, and your future are worth protecting.

Final Thought

A calmer life isn’t found by adding more—it’s found by removing what doesn’t belong.

Less worry.

Less noise.

Less clutter.

More rest.

More order.

More peace.

And that, friends, is real success.