Stress

I’m sure many of you can relate to being STRESSED. Sometimes I feel like I am always under stress — the sad part is, nearly all the stress is created by me. I’m terrible at predicting how much time something will take me, and inevitably end up in over my head. I also have a hard time saying no sometimes, which means I often have more on my plate than I can handle. (Anyway else struggle with this? I am such a people-pleaser. I don’t like conflict.) And of course, I have all these unrealistic expectations of myself, which go unmet, causing more stress.

Someone once explained to me that stress is nothing more than the difference between expectations and reality. An interesting concept, but it makes sense to me. If my expectations were lower, I’d meet some of them, and then there wouldn’t be any stress, lol. Not that we shouldn’t set goals that stretch us, and expect better things of our selves — but all in moderation, right? We’re talking realistic goals and realistic expectations.

So … how to relieve stress?

You can find oodles of information about stress relief and stress management just by Googling. Here are a few interesting sites I found:
Stress Management (from The Mayo Clinic)
Stress Management (from healthguide.org)
Stress Management Health Center (WebMD)

Here’s a short synopsis of what I’m going to try:
1. Identify — name my stressors.
2. Evaluate — determine which stressors can be eliminated and which can be modified.
3. Set goals — time management is something I struggle with and most of my stressors can be traced back to this, so I’m going to work on setting some goals to organize my time.

What are your favorite ways to relieve stress?