what do you do when you feel super duper stressed out, like, enough to make you want to curl up and not move for a long time
Hey sweetpea, I’m sorry to hear you’re going through thistough time! Stress is such a common thing these days, but don’t worry! Thereare loads of ways to combat it. Firstof all, it might help if you knew the physiology behind stress.
Stress is the perceived discrepancybetween the demands of an event/situation and the resources you believe youhave to meet those demands. (Lazarus 1981) The important thing here is that stress is somethingthat depends upon perception. If youthink that you can easily meet the demands of the situation, you won’t feelstressed!
So, how do you do that?
Personally, for me, a game plan works best. You don’t even need to follow it! Just the act of creating a step-by-step plan in as excruciating detail as you can manage is sometimes enough to make you feel like you can do it.Â
For some people, taking a day off works better. Spend one day as far away from the stressor as possible. Take a walk, enjoy a bubble bath, read a good book or go out with your friends. Just keep yourself away from the thing that is stressing you out. The next day, approach it with a fresh and more relaxed mind!Â
Sometimes, behavioral techniques work better. Put on some nice, soft music (maybe an instrumental or the soundtrack from your favourite movie) and sit or lie down in a comfortable position. For a minute, just work on regulating your breathing. Then, starting from your toes, tense your muscles tightly and hold for fifteen seconds, then let go immediately. So, basically, you’ll be tensing up several muscle groups, working your way up from your toes/feet. The trick here is to make sure the rest of your body is relaxed. Just tense one muscle group at a time and let go immediately. Feel the tension rush out and your limbs feeling looser. Do this as many times as you need to relax.Â
If you’ve got a deadline to meet and you haven’t got time to spend on these techniques, a simple way to reduce stress is to change your environment as much as you can. If you’re working in the bedroom, move to the kitchen. If you’re using a computer, switch to notepaper.Â
One last technique is called backward searching. Mostly used in problem solving, it’s similar to the first technique I told you about, with just one difference. Work backwards. On a piece of paper or an empty word doc, put down your end goal in big letters. This is your final product, the result you want to achieve. Next, work backwards. The idea behind it is that it’s easier to work and be motivated to work when you know already the final product and what it’s going to be like. Here’s an example of backward searching:Â
I’ve finished the big term paper and submitted it to my professor on time (end goal).Â
To be able to have done that, I would have had to proofread the document and do a spell check.Â
Before that, I would have written it out properly, taking notes from my first draft.Â
To have written my first draft, I would’ve spent a few hours researching my paper.
To research my paper, I would’ve had to come up with a suitable topic and work out the main points I want to explore.Â
So, there you go! These are just a few tips that I hope might help. Lastly, here is a brilliant way to look at stress, from a positive point of view.Â
Stay strong xoxo
