Managing Stress

Especially during the school year, I find myself feeling stressed and overwhelmed. Whether this is because I have a massive amount of homework, or I have finals coming up, I feel this stress throughout the day, even when I am not at school. It took me some time to come up with a mitigation system that worked for me. Remember, even if this process has worked for my stress levels, it might not be a match for you…and that’s okay!

The main thing I do is work on what’s immediately important. If I have 4 assignments, I work on the one that’s due first. By getting this out of the way, I won’t feel rushed knowing that all my stress is not immediate. Another thing I do is force myself to stop procrastinating. As much as I’d like to say I’m not a horrible procrastinator, I can’t. I procrastinate pretty much everything, and it brings me a lot of stress! To combat this, I make myself sit down somewhere and do my work. Even if I don’t feel like it, I tell myself that I can’t leave this spot until I get my work done. No matter what, don’t get up and get distracted, force yourself to do the work. After, give yourself a reward, either a tv break or time to spend with your friends/family. Eventually you will be better at making yourself do the work, and it will become a habit. I’ve been doing this for about six months, and although it isn’t a huge amount of time, I find it easier for me to do the work once I decide I need to do it. By lowering my stress about all that I have to do, my overall anxiety decreases substantially.

If you want more information on my anti-procrastination work style, visit the link below.