On Handling Stress

Last week was one for the books, and not for the good books. It was one of those weeks when one horrible thing happens, and it spirals downward from there. I spent 4/5 of the school days feeling completely stressed, and on edge. I have never felt that level before. Because of this, I only did the bare minimum of studying, and I know my classmates felt it too. The feeling did improve, and I felt a lot lighter by the end of the week, if that makes sense. It didn't take much to get me to a better place by the end of the week, and I realized that I have handled stress pretty well my entire life.

Everyone handles stress/anxiety in their own way. We all come up with our own coping mechanisms that we know work for us. I think it is crucial to know this about yourself, so you know what to do when things feel like too much. It is so good to be in tune with your body in all of your dimensions of physical, mental and emotional health. I cannot emphasize this enough!

Here are my tips on how to handle stress, and how to find how you cope best. (I am NOT an expert, but just want to share my thoughts!)

ONE // Reflect on the problem/stressors, and ask yourself why you are feeling that way, and if you can justify it as a rational feeling. I often try to talk myself out of the feeling because when it is little annoyances, I personally feel that the stressful feeling is not worth wasting the energy.

TWO // Talk it out with friends/family. This was really helpful for my friends, and I last week. I will admit that we spent a lot of the time ranting to each other about our grievances, but it was cathartic. We also tried to have constructive conversations, were also were Reflecting on our stress.

THREE // Take a break when you feel its necessary. I know we all did last week, but for us, it some what added to the stress, as we fell behind in class and studying. I know I took a break from working at night when I got home from school. This helped me an immense amount. I think its hard to balance the guilt from not studying/working while you are taking a break. Another form of taking a break for me is to skip lecture because they are all recorded for us, and this was what I needed to do one day last week.

FOUR // If you need to, indulge in ONE guilty pleasure. This is probably against the advice of the experts, but I think it can work sometimes. I also say do not over indulge yourself because that could give you the opposite feeling. I definitely let myself have a glass of red wine, chips and chocolate last week. I picked more than one guilty pleasure because it was just that crappy of a week.

FIVE // Lastly, try to have a level of acceptance of the stressor/problem, but stay optimistic. By the end of last week, I had to tell myself that one problem is not going to be solved any time soon, and I have to accept this. But, I keep this thought in my head that things will soon go back to normal. I definitely feel like I am one of the more optimistic people I know, and I am not sure if this is a good thing, but I think it can be.

I could come up with several other tips. I do think self care is essential to wellbeing, and I even did a self care challenge. I would love to know how you handle stress. There are never too many resources for handling this topic!


As always,

#dontforgetyourpearls