Things were changing and I felt lots of transition coming. I was having a really hard time protecting my peace, and it was super annoying. Have you ever felt this way? Like you were lacking the peace you craved?
After reading this post, you’ll learn exactly how to protect your peace which will allow you to feel more relaxed and content with your life.
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31 Practical Tips to Protect Your Peace
1. Walk Away When You Need to (Graciously)
I protect my peace by knowing my limits. When I feel pushed to a limit, I know it’s in my best interest (and everyone else’s) to walk away and take a breather.
Walking away is just a temporary thing, usually. If you chose to walk away to protect your peace, you’re not giving up. You’re just giving yourself and your mind and your emotions a little extra space to process and respond appropriately.
Walking away gives you the chance to respond instead of react.
2. Don’t Try to Change Others
You’ll feel a lot more at peace if you just take people as is. Trying to change someone, whether it’s a friend, partner, or family member, isn’t a good use of your time. People aren’t going to change until something within them is ready.
You’ll just aggravate yourself trying to change someone because almost always, they don’t change on your watch. Protect your peace by accepting others as they are.
3. Know Your Triggers
It’s your job to protect your peace, meaning it’s also your job to know what your triggers are.
If you’re triggered by big crowds and loud music, don’t go to that party if you want to protect your peace.
I’m protecting my peace when I go to bed early because I know a trigger for me is a rushed, frenzied morning the next day.
4. Don’t Try to Control Everything
I say this lovingly, but get this in your head: you cannot control everything. So much peace is shattered when you try to take the reigns of life and plan out every outcome.
If you attempt to assume all the control, every time something goes wrong, you’re peace meter will go down. So do yourself the favor of taking a more hands-off approach to life. Sure, you can still make plans but expect some things to go off the rails.
5. Be Aware of Your Environment
One of the easiest ways to protect your peace is to not spend time in places that irritate you in some way.
Our environment can be a big part of our wellness. Make sure you’re creating an environment at home that allows you to feel peaceful. And make an effort to avoid places that don’t make you feel good, or have a plan for how to cope with the times when you have to spend time in places that make you anxious.
6. Say “No” When it’s Necessary
I looove protecting my peace by saying “no.” For me, a lot of my peace comes from feeling like I have control over the way I spend my time. I know this about myself. So when things pop up that may take too much of my time that I’m not willing to give up, I say no.
You can do the same thing to protect your peace. Know that it’s okay and good to say no to things. You’re allowed to!
7. Very Little is Actually About You
This fact is sooo comforting to me. You don’t have to take everything so personally. Doing so really has the potential to steal all of your peace.
Not everything is about you. I get upset when someone is short with me. But I have to remember that their reaction is a reflection of what’s going on in their life, and is likely not directed at or about me.
This realization is freeing!
8. Don’t Be Afraid to Stand Up for Yourself
You can actually gain peace by sticking up for what you believe in. If you’ve ever stayed quiet and regretted it later, you know what I’m talking about.
You can feel a lot of peace when you stand up for yourself and your beliefs. It solidifies your identity and ability to represent yourself or a cause well.
9. Set Boundaries with Those Close to You (and with Yourself)
Boundaries. Boundaries. Boundaries. They are incredibly important for protecting my peace, and can be for you, too.
Here’s how to set boundaries in your life, plus feel more balanced overall.
When you make it clear how you’d like others to treat you, they have a much easier time doing so. Plus, when you respect your own boundaries, you’re “training” others to respect your boundaries too.
10. Establish Helpful and Desirable Routines
You can protect your peace infinitely with quality routines. A routine is just a string of habits that are automated and that have the goal of making this easier and simpler for you.
The book Atomic Habits totally revolutionizes habit formation, and I highly recommend it to help you develop habits that make sense for you and your life- and help you actually stick to them.
When you have healthy routines, you are saving valuable headspace for other things, therefore increasing your peace. You have to make fewer decisions when you implement a routine, which allows so much more room for feelings of calmness and peace.
| Related Reading: Simplify Your Morning Routine with These Powerful Tips
11. Work Toward Work/Life Balance
Don’t bring your work home with you. Period. If you can help it, keep everything work related at work- including thinking about work.
When you set a healthy boundary, and don’t bring work stress home with you, you can protect your peace so well.
Maybe your job doesn’t allow for a clean-cut boundary like this. If that’s the case, you’ll have to be innovative. Innovative doesn’t mean impossible, though. Do what you can to set clear lines between home and work. It’s so good for your overall wellness.
| Related Reading: How to Get a Better Job in Just 3 Steps
12. Schedule “Me Time”
Whether you’re an introvert or not, alone time can be helpful. Introverts get their energy from alone time, so this strategy for protecting your peace is incredibly effective. But even extroverts can benefit from a little quiet time.
Whether it’s just 5 minutes of stillness, a quick guided meditation, sitting outside to sip coffee, or a whole night to yourself, “me” time helps you return to center, reflect on your emotions, and connect with yourself.
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13. Get Quiet with Yourself Once a Day: Utilize “Empty Space”
Leaving empty space on my calendar is one of my favorite ways of protecting my peace. Allowing not just alone time as I talked about above, but empty space to just be bored is so helpful for protecting your peace.
When you allow yourself blank space in your day or week, you’re opening up room to let your mind wander. This is when you’ll likely get your best and most innovative and creative ideas.
Being bored as an adult is something we’ve likely all lost. Let’s get back to being bored and getting quiet enough to let our brain decide what we want to do or think about. Slowing down like this ushers in so much peace!
14. Get the Right Amount of Sleep
There’s nothing like a solid night’s sleep. A good sleep schedule does wonders for your overall wellness and your ability to cultivate peace in your life.
According to Mayo Clinic, adults need 7 or more hours of sleep per night. Each person requires something different, so get in touch with how much sleep YOU need. It may be different than your family or partner.
If you’re running off of a few hours of sleep, you’re not operating at your best. When you’re tired, you’ll likely be short and snippy, make unnecessary mistakes, and be less patient with yourself.
| Related Reading: 19 Easy Ways to be More Patient With Yourself
Simple Guide to Feel More Calm
Snag this completely free 2-page guide that will walk you through the exact steps you need to take to feel immediately calmer!
Be sure to check your spam and promotional folders in your email for the free download.
15. Journal About What Needs to Change
Sometimes you’re lacking peace in your life because something’s got to give. Maybe there needs to be a shift or a change in your life.
Change is really challenging for a lot of us. And a helpful way to work through impending change is to journal about it.
Check out these journal prompts to help you work through change.
16. Monitor Your Self-Talk
We have the power to increase or diminish our peace. One of the biggest ways you can impact your peace level is through self-talk.
I’ve already written about how to improve your self-talk, so be sure to check that out.
To keep it short and sweet, the kinder you talk to yourself in your head- your internal narrative- the more at peace you’ll feel.
17. Implement a Meditation Practice
A few years ago, I implemented a 3-5 minute meditation practice just 4ish days per week. This felt doable to me, and to this day, I still do a pretty good job of implementing this practice. I’m protecting my peace by getting quiet with myself consistently.
You can do the same, whether you just sit quietly for a minute each day, or you listen to a guided meditation on Youtube, you can protect your peace and feel even more peace in your life by meditating.
Meditating allows you to let go of everything in your mind, all the worries and stressors, for just a few minutes. And the more you do it, the better you’ll get at returning your attention to the present moment.
| Related Reading: The 30 Ways to Relieve Stress that Actually Work
18. Consume Less Content
So often, all of the content you’re consuming on a daily basis is negatively impacting your peace. The news and current events are enough to upset you and make you nervous about the state of the world.
Then, add in social media content to your consumption, and you’re on overload!
Actively consuming a little bit less content will allow you to feel more at peace. I’m not suggesting ignorance to what’s going on in the world. I’m suggesting more mindful consumption.
Try any of these techniques to consume content more mindfully:
- Mute accounts that cause you to feel anxious
- Consume news content from balanced sources, or some content from each “side”
- Give yourself a limit, or set screentime limits for certain apps where you notice you spend more time
- Have a cutoff, where you don’t consume any more content after a certain time of day
19. Practice Gratitude
I’ve actively been protecting my peace for a few years now by implementing a practice of gratitude. I feel a lot more peace about my life, even if I’m not where I want to be, when I consistently bring my focus back to gratitude.
I want to stay away from toxic positivity here. You’re still allowed to feel negative feelings in life. They’re valid. But what I want to suggest is that where possible, you bring a stronger focus to what you have that you can be grateful for.
What’s good in your life right now, even if you’re lacking something in another area? It’s about where your main focus lies.
20. Create a Peaceful Go-To Spot
Do you have a place close by that you can go to when you need peace? For me, my workout room/yoga room is my go-to peaceful spot that I can sit in when I’m feeling unsure, anxious, or stressed.
I put a cozy rug in there and shelves with plants and candles. It’s minimal, has zero clutter, and is a place where I feel totally calm.
Think about even just a small corner of your room or home that you can dedicate as a peaceful go-to spot.
Here are a few items that might help you create a peaceful got-to spot:
- Essential Oils
- Diffuser
- Heated eye mask (I use mine nightly!)
- Cozy blanket
- Fairy lights
- Plants
- Comfy chair
- Prism suncatcher
- Floor pillow
- Journal and pen set
- Cozy rug
- Humidifier
21. Shift Your Perspective
Choosing joy is a tool that really helps me protect my peace in times of turmoil. Whether there is significant upheaval in my life, or just something minor, I always come back to the concept of choosing joy.
Again, I’m not promoting toxic positivity here. I don’t want you to forsake all your “negative” feelings. It’s important to feel them!
But you can still choose to feel joy in the small things even in the midst of your troubles.
| Related Reading: Powerful Words of Encouragement for Hard Times + 6 Action Steps to Help You Overcome Them
In a time where, say, work is super stressful, your home life is unstable, and everything is crashing at once, you can still find joy in your morning cup of coffee, in listening to your favorite song, and in all the other small things throughout your day.
22. Get Outside
Find peace by getting your butt outside. Get in the fresh air and bask in the sunlight. It’s backed by science that getting sunlight and fresh air is so helpful for your wellbeing!
You can use your outside time to get still, to think in the quiet, open air, or just as a break from the things that steal your peace during the day.
23. Get Organized
There’s honestly not much that’s more overwhelming for me than disorganization. I feel so much more at peace when my home and life are organized. If you’re like me, then you could benefit from a little more organization in your life.
Try some of these things to get you more organized:
| Related Reading: 14 Tips for Getting Organized When You’re Busy
24. Take a Phone Break
When was the last time you put your phone down? Like seriously down? Left-it-in-another-room-for-a-while down?
I’ve been protecting my peace lately by giving myself phone breaks. I’ll leave my phone in the house somewhere and spend some time without it! It honestly feels so good to be without it.
Taking a phone break, or even just setting screentime limits, has been instrumental for me in feeling more at peace. It’s a combination of consuming less content and freeing up my time and headspace for other things that makes me feel at peace.
25. Get in the Habit of Understanding Your Emotions
Understanding your emotions, especially the negative ones, is really helpful for protecting your peace when things in life are difficult.
When I feel some type of way, but can’t place why or what I’m feeling, I feel very conflicted and uneasy. But when I take some time to dig into those emotions to understand them better, I feel so much better overall.
I usually do this by journaling, but you could also talk to a loved one to work through emotions. Doing something creative or spending time alone can also help you work through what you’re feeling and make sense of it.
26. Notice Your Limiting Beliefs
Limiting beliefs you hold about yourself can be corrupting your peace in a major way if you let them go unchecked.
A limiting belief is an untrue, damaging belief you hold about yourself and let impact your life in some way. I’ve already written about how to overcome limiting beliefs on the blog!
When you notice your specific limiting beliefs and challenge them, you’ll feel more at peace with who you are. You won’t let your untrue beliefs about yourself impact the way you view yourself as a person.
27. Don’t Compare Yourself to Others
The time in my life when I felt the most at odds with myself was when I was letting comparison run rampant in my life. I was constantly comparing my status, achievements, and looks to others around me and I felt totally anxious and unsettled.
I didn’t feel confident that who I was and didn’t think I was enough.
You can protect your peace by making an effort to compare yourself to others less. How?
Lucky for you, I have a whole post on how to beat the comparison game.
28. Surround Yourself with the Right People
Your level of perceived peace depends in part on who you’re surrounded by. When possible, surround yourself with uplifting, positive people.
| Related Reading: You Are Who You Surround Yourself With: Who the Right People Are and How to Find Them
Do your best to spend time around people who value you, who want to see you succeed, and who challenge you in a healthy way. You’ll feel so much peace if you create a quality circle of influence around you.
And where you can’t control the people around you (at work or at family events, for example) use the rest of these strategies for finding and protecting your peace.
29. Prioritize Your Peace
If you really want to protect your peace, you have to prioritize it! I know that sounds obvious, but it needs to be said. Your peace has to be valuable to you in order for you to consistently put it at the forefront of your world.
Be mindful of what you’re putting first in your life. It’s also helpful to know that in different seasons of life, it’s natural for priorities to shift.
30. Be Mindful of What You Give Energy To
Are you spending valuable energy and headspace on things that drain you? Are you constantly giving energy to the negative people around you, or drowning in life’s stress because you can’t stop worrying?
You can protect your peace by being mindful of what you give energy to. If you can, gently steer your energy in another direction if you notice it’s being pulled down.
Maybe you notice you’re spending lots of time thinking about your troublesome coworker. Do your best to put him out of your mind by engaging in something that brings you joy, or getting outside, or getting creative. Feeling frustrated at that coworker isn’t going to change the situation.
31. Set Yourself Up for Success
Sometimes, I set my hopes sooo high that I get disappointed and upset when I don’t meet my own expectations. A strategy I use for protecting my peace is to set myself up to succeed without being totally unrealistic.
For example, I set quarterly business goals. I know better now and I am sure to make them attainable. In the beginning of my business, I aimed so high, and at the end of every quarter, I was upset and anxious because I didn’t set myself up for success. I wasn’t protecting my peace. I expected too much of myself.
You can do the same. Set future you up for success by setting attainable goals. You’ll feel at peace when you’re actively making progress toward short-term goals.
| Related Reading: Going For It: Take These Steps to Pursue Your Dream
Protect Your Peace from Toxic Relationships
Think about a toxic relationship in your life. Odds are, you’ve experienced a toxic relationship before. It’s super important for you to have the skills and know-how to protect your peace, especially in these toxic relationships. You’ll be protecting your overall wellbeing and mental health if you know how to navigate toxic relationships.
How exactly do you protect your peace from toxic relationships? You set boundaries! You be clear about what you need and consistently enforce those boundaries.
How to Set Boundaries in a Relationship
Setting boundaries in a toxic relationship is no small feat, especially when the other person is manipulative and undermines your efforts to put these boundaries in place.
Here’s how to set and stick to boundaries:
Be Clear About What You Need
Having a defined sit-down or some sort of “official” statement about what you need and what you won’t tolerate can be really helpful.
Be very, very, very clear about your limits, standards, and expectations. I’d be willing to bet that you won’t tolerate manipulation, bullying, or gaslighting. Communicate that calmly and clearly to the other person.
Don’t be afraid to be stern and assertive. You can communicate with compassion and respect while also being stern and assertive.
Be Consistent in Enforcing Boundaries
Know going in that you will likely have to enforce the boundaries you clearly set earlier on. Enforcing boundaries may bring up conflict.
If the other person continues to disregard your boundaries, know it’s sometimes a good thing to take a step back from the relationship, maybe just for a time, or maybe permanently. Remember, the goal is to protect your peace from toxicity, so respectfully leaving the relationship may be the answer.
What to Do When Someone Oversteps a Boundary
Disregard for your boundaries is honestly THE most frustrating thing. You’ve done a great thing by setting a boundary, and to have it ignored can be so hurtuful. Instead of lashing out, here’s what you can do:
- Let them know they’ve overstepped a boundary. Be clear about exactly how their actions or words impacted you.
- Reinforce the boundary. Implementing boundaries is unfortunately an ongoing project. Let them know this boundary is non-negotiable.
- Consider setting consequences. If someone continues to ignore your boundary, maybe you need to create a consequence and communicate it to them. This could mean less contact or even no contact.
- Get a second opinion. Go to a trusted loved one to get their take on the situation.
A Reminder to Respect Boundaries
It’s healthy for you to set boundaries in any relationship, especially toxic ones. But I want to remind you that respecting healthy boundaries that others set is equally as important.
Once, I got upset that a friend canceled on me last minute. But as I was reflecting on it, I realized that she was asserting a boundary. She needed some space to spend some alone time so she could be her best, and here I was getting upset about canceled plans. I wasn’t respecting her boundary.
If we want others to respect our boundaries, we should actively be respecting theirs.
What Does it Mean to Protect Your Inner Peace?
Protecting your inner peace means not allowing external things in that will cause you to feel:
- Agitated
- Flustered
- Upset
- Anxious
- Unsettled
- Worried
Inner peace is a state of existence where you feel content and pleased with yourself and your life. What inner peace doesn’t mean is that everything in your life is perfect.
You can experience inner peace even when life isn’t ideal. Inner peace comes from a deep-seated level of contentment and gratitude.
I learned and really began to understand the concept of finding joy in the midst of my life not being where I want it to be when I read the book Embrace Your Almost by Jordan Lee Dooley.
This entire book is about understanding how to live well in the middle of a life that’s not the way you want it.
What Makes Up and Contributes to Your Personal Peace?
There are eight facets of wellbeing and each one can contribute to or hinder your inner peace.
- Spiritual Wellness: your level of connectedness to your faith
- Emotional Wellness: your awareness of and ability to accept and express your emotions
- Occupational Wellness: your satisfaction with your work life and level of fulfillment
- Intellectual Wellness: your level of cognitive stimulation and cognitive rest
- Environmental Wellness: your surroundings and how they impact you
- Financial Wellness: your mindset surrounding money
- Social Wellness: your circle of influence and their impact on you
- Physical Wellness: your health, diet, and exercise routines
In addition to these eight areas of wellness, there are a few other factors that can contribute to your personal peace when leveraged the right way:
- Lifestyle
- Mental health (ps: here’s a great list of free mental health printables)
- How you spend your time
Consequences of Losing Your Inner Peace
Trust me when I say that toughing it out after losing your inner peace isn’t the way to go. When you feel a lack of peace, don’t just keep going on in that way of life. Find peace again!
When you allow yourself to live a life that’s lacking peace, you’ll feel overworked, run-down, antsy, uncomfy, and discontent.
Your inner peace can dwindle when you continuously deprive yourself of rest and stillness and the things that bring you joy. But the good news is, you can always bring peace back into your life by picking any of the 31 strategies above!
Don’t let yourself go on in life feeling depleted. Doing so can impact so many areas of your wellness. You’ll have less energy so you’ll be less likely to treat your mind and body well. You’ll have less desire to spend time with loved ones or challenge yourself at work.
You deserve a chance to optimize each area of your wellness, and you can ensure you have the capacity to do that by gaining back some peace. When you operate from a state of peace, you have the capacity to contribute to and optimize your overall wellbeing.
How to Protect Your Peace
To put it simply, you protect your peace by making peace a priority in your life. Protecting your peace is actually a lifestyle choice.
You can go on depriving yourself of what you need to feel optimal within yourself, or you can make a conscious decision to make decisions based on how they will impact your peace.
I believe that protecting your peace is a daily choice. It’s something you have to be actively pursuing. Every day, you’ll be faced with challenges that could potentially rob you of your peace. It’s up to you how you respond and move on from these challenges.
Too many times, I’ve let my peace fly out the window because of a rushed morning or someone cutting me off, or me forgetting my lunch. I let these small inconveniences affect how the rest of my morning, and even my entire day, goes.
Instead, I should have recognized that annoying occurrence for what it was, and actively made the decision to move forward and not dwell on it. I should have asked myself if that *thing* will really matter in a year. If not, then it’s probably not worth my headspace.
How I’m Protecting My Peace
I’m protecting my peace by making a conscious decision to live a healthy lifestyle in all ways. I feel the most at peace when I’m taking care of my body and mind and allowing room in my calendar and life for fun and for rest.
I’m me and you’re you. So maybe you feel most at peace when you allow plenty of time for work-related brainstorming.
Unhurried Mornings
I know I feel the most peace when I’m unhurried and when I don’t have to rush from responsibility to responsibility.
Armed with that knowledge (which I discovered by feeling very anxious after rushing from thing to thing), I am intentional about:
- when I schedule things
- when I wake up
- how much time I allow to get from responsibility to responsibility
- Leaving “relax days” in between busy weeknights
| Related Reading: 6 Must-Have Tips to Find Balance in Your Life and Manage All Your Responsibilities
Let’s Bring it Home
With these 31 strategies to protect your peace, you’ll feel more relaxed and content. Plus you’ll feel less anxious and unsettled, too.
Take any of these 31 strategies, just one is great to start, and try it on for size! You likely already know what it takes to feel more at peace, so lean into that, too!
Related Reading:
20 Tips to Have a Better Relationship with Yourself
Inspirational Life Lessons and Random Realizations to Motivate You and Get You Out of that Funk
34 Best Books on Finding Your Passion so You Can Live Out Your Purpose in Life
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Thanks for this great post! I definitely have found myself in those situations so this is helpful to learn to protect myself!
For sure! Having techniques in your back pocket is so helpful!