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Monday, March 10, 2014

Stress, Anxiety, and Worry Manegment

Hey everyone! So...I have pretty bad stress issues. Like really bad. For example, today I did not go to school for two reasons: 1) I barely slept last night (plus I'm groggy from the time change) and 2) I was insanely stressed for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I decided working while really stressed and really tired probably wasn't the best idea.

Unfortunately, I get stressed out often and lying in my bed all day isn't always an option. Besides, despite the fact that I'm not at school, I am still extremely stressed. I know other people also have bad stress issues, so I decided to give you a couple tips on stress, anxiety, and worry management.

1) Figure out what works for you. This may sound dumb or obvious, but stress management is different for everyone. You need to experiment with different solutions and figure out what works for you.
2) Breathing. I know everyone says that breathing is the way to deal with stress and it does help, to a point. Personally, deep breathing is not the only thing that helps me deal with stress. It does really relive a huge panic attack, though. I would recommend breathing in for four counts, holding it for three, and breathing out for four counts.
3) Distraction. I really find that distracting myself from stress works immensely, despite the fact that it may not be the healthiest option to deal with stress.I find that by listening to some music, reading a chapter of a book, or researching some facts (that sounds weird but works well!) can help me take my mind of stress. Learning about something new is a great way to distract yourself from worry.
4) Getting to the root of the problem. Anything can get me stressed, from the messiness of my room to a missed homework assignment to a debate club meeting. Getting to the root of the problem is often a starting step for me to solve stress issues. If the problem is easily fixable, I take care of it right away and feel much better. If it's anxiety about something I can't take care of at that second (like a test) I do everything I can to prepare for it and reason out why I should not be worried. I'm a very logical person and so reasoning things out often works at least a little for me.
5) Exercise! Yoga, running, dancing, and stretching all help me cope with stress and are actually pretty fun with some music, even if I'm feeling pretty bad at the beginning.
6) Do what you love. You probably know some things that relax you and make you happy, like taking baths or reading a good book. Do those things! They help distract and relax you.
7) Write it out. Writing out your troubles and the things bothering you can often help and even just writing out this post has helped me tremendously. I'm writing this during a breaks in a TV show and I feel a million times better already.

So those are my tips! I also sometimes like to put a hot water bottle on my stomach if the worry in my stomach is bothering me, but other than that those are pretty much my tips. I hope that this post helped you if you suffer from any kind of stress. Remember the first tip. Everyone is different and you most likely won't have the same coping strategies as me, but just play with them and try them out and see what works for you.

XOXO,
MMM