The amount of people who are stressed these days is alarmingly high. Yes, there is good stress, but too many people are overwhelmed by the bad kind of stress. What they don't realize is a big part of lowering their stress comes from their mindset.

It all begins in the mind. These people who are overwhelmed by stress can find the origin within their minds, yet they're so caught up in their lives that they don't have the time to dive in and fix the problem.

Letting bad stress go unattended isn't good for you, mentally or physically. Eventually, the stress catches up to you, causing a problem that could've been avoided.

For those who don't have the time to do mental health practices or those who want to further improve their mental health, these mindsets work perfectly. Here are the mindsets I've found for lowering stress.

1. Accept that there are things outside your control

The biggest culprit of stress is worrying over things you cannot change. Worrying about what that cute girl will think when you approach her, worrying about how people will perceive you for saying something, or worrying about the results of a test you haven't gotten back yet; you can't control any of these, and yet so many people choose to stress over them regardless.

During my first term in college, I remember after my communications midterm being asked by my teacher how I think I did on my exam. My reply was, "It's done, no point worrying about it."

Back in high school, I was your typical chronic worrier over test results just like the rest of my fellow students. When we'd get our test results, we'd compare answers frantically to try and figure out why we got certain questions wrong.

This process of worrying about getting everything right not only stressed me but everyone else who was doing it too. 

Once my senior year rolled around, I started caring less about these minute details. Once I had submitted a test, I would stop worrying about it. Whatever mark I got was the mark I got, and I never went for re-tests. The result of this was an increase in the quality of my life overall. 

I found that things out of your control are part of the things in life that don't matter that much, if at all.

By stopping yourself from stressing over things out of your control, you stop yourself from stressing over things that don't really matter.

2. Why so serious?

Although he was a psychopath, the Joker did have one very wise phrase: "Why so serious?" Take a closer look at people who are stressed out and you'll notice that they take things too seriously. Or do it the other way around: people who take things too seriously tend to be stressed out.

One very key idea I noticed early in my journey had to do with how carefree children are compared to adults. Generally speaking, kids tend to live without a care in the world, while adults live as if the next minute they might be publically executed.

There are multiple factors at play here, such as the fact that kids tend to run around more while adults are locked up in offices all day. The most remarkable of these factors is how adults tend to want to do things in a socially acceptable way.

When was the last time you saw an adult take a picture of their favorite leaf on the ground? When was the last time you heard a kid say that they want to be a dinosaur when they grow up?

The kid doesn't care about giving a socially acceptable answer, they give the answer that is authentic to them. 

Adults in general are very hit or miss when it comes to stress levels. The reason being they tend to take too many things too seriously.

The next time you find yourself stressing out, ask yourself why you're taking it so seriously. I guarantee you your authentic answer will give you a reason to reconsider things.

3. No matter what happens, I will be okay

This mindset here is the pinnacle of low stress and high confidence. If you can successfully adopt this mindset, not only will your stress plummet, but your confidence will increase tenfold!

Sales pitch aside, the mentality that you'll be okay no matter what happens really does do wonders for your sanity and confidence.

Let's go back to the example of stressing over test results. Why do those students stress over it? Chances are they want to score well so their parents don't get upset with them.

The students fear how their parents will react to a low score, which is a valid thing to be wary of. However, it never turns out as bad as they think it will.

9/10, the situation will never be anywhere near as bad as you think it will be. More often than not, it ends up way better than you thought, and if it doesn't it ends up so bad that you have reason to leave right away.

People who are over-stressed are that way because they fear every little potential pitfall. They end up sweeping for mines in a field that has none.

By adopting the mentality of "No matter what happens, I'll be okay," you are telling yourself that there's no reason to be so stressed out.

Know when to quit

Of course, you must also know when it's right to entirely drop the source of your stress. Many people know when they should, but simply never pull the trigger.

By adopting these mindsets, pulling the trigger becomes that much easier should it ever come to that. However, that should always be the last resort. Before that, you should try implementing these mindsets first.

- Karl