As you probably read in some of my other posts, I am a
fulltime college student and I work part time. I am currently dealing with
writing my Master Thesis. This is an incredibly stressful time for me. Every day
is filled with new and old challenges, work that needs to get done and
deadlines that need to be adhered. But I am not the only person in this world
who has a stressful time on a daily basis. Everyone has appointments or
meetings they need to attend, getting work done in a specific amount of time or
just go to work every day. Or they just have to deal with obstacles,
challenges, and, you know, just whatever life throws at them. During the last
6-9 months, I have been trying new methods, in order to deal with the daily
stress I have to go through. Today, I thought I share my methods with you.
The first thing that I started to do and that helped
me keeping my whole schedule organized is to write a To-Do-List. It is really
simple, but it keeps you from having those moments when you think like “ohh
shoot, I need to hand in this paper like today, I completely forgot about this.”
Or the moment when you totally forgot an appointment or you know, something
that stresses you out a lot in a very small amount of time. I actually make two
To-Do-Lists. One for the whole week, with deadlines, appointments and things
like that on it and the other one for every day. Every Sunday, I get my calendar
and see what appointments and deadlines I have for the upcoming week and what
needs to be done. Every evening, I write down my To-Do-List for the next day. As
stupid as is sounds, I put even small details like “having lunch” on it. But it
keeps my day structured and organized. Let me give you an example of a
To-Do-List for a day in my hectic life:
- - In the morning à go to work
- - Come home à make and eat lunch
- - Afternoon à Study
- - Evening à have dinner
- - Write email to professor
- - Organize texts into “read” and “have to read” folders
- - Call Jen to ask if we’re still going out for drinks tomorrow
- - Pay bookstore bill
You see? I put almost every little detail on my lists,
in order that I will not forget them.
Every day is full with things that need to get done
and places you need to go. You’re getting up in the morning and the chaos
called life is starting right away. After a full day, you just fall into bed.
All you want to do is sleep, but somehow your mind keeps running. This happens
to me quite often. When I lie in my bed at night and trying to fall asleep, my
mind will not stop running and I think about so many things. My mind and I did
not have the time to think during the day, so we have to do that at night when
we supposed to fall asleep. I found a way that helps me to deal with this.
Every day, I take 10 minutes out of my hectic schedule and just sit in a chair
or on a bench outside or just somewhere, close my eyes and let my mind racing
and thinking. I keep a piece of paper or a notebook on my lap so that I can
write down something that I need to remember. An idea I have for my Master
Thesis, an idea for a birthday present, a memory, etc. This really helped me to
calm myself and my mind, in order to fall asleep more easily at night.
I recently discovered the art of meditating for me. I
always thought people who are mediating are crazy. It does not help. But I was
wrong and I now understand that it can help a lot. There are so many ways to
mediate. And I am not someone who knows a lot about it by any means. I actually
know nothing really. I only read about a very simple type of meditating on a
different blog, and I thought why not try it. So, the thing I do is that I take
another 10 minutes out of my day, not the 10 that I let my mind racing,
different 10 minutes. And I sit down on the floor with my legs crossed, leaning
against the wall or my bed, close my eyes and I try not to think at all. I only
focus on my breathing. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. When I am drifting to
other thoughts, I pull myself together to just focus on breathing. This relaxes
me. This gives me energy and it helps me concentrate better.
I know, the last 2 tips are a little opposite too each
other. I do not do them right after one another. Most of the time, I do the
mediating thing in the middle of the day, and the mind racing thing 1-2 hours
after it or before I eat dinner. Both are really helping me to reduce the
stress level to my body and mind. I feel more in peace with myself, calm,
concentrated, and healthy.
To end my day on a positive note, I keep a journal in
which I write one positive thing that happened that day. It does not matter
what it is. It could be someone that made you smile today, a situation that was
positive and fun, or just having lunch/dinner/coffee/breakfast/tea with a
family member or friend that was good time, or just some really positive news
you received. It could be anything that was positive during the day. Just write
down a single word, one sentence, a paragraph or just some mixed words. It only
takes a minute or two. I usually write it down before I go to sleep. Even when
the day is as bad as it can be, try to remember one tiny little positive thing,
and write it down. There is always one.
As it got visible, I only take out 30 minutes for
myself out of everyday, in order to reduce the stress level a little and to
refocus. There are days in which you do not have those 30 minutes. I have
those, too. But I try to at least do one of the 10 minutes exercise. And I
always do the writing down one positive thing. I believe that ending the day on
a positive note, helps you to calm your body and mind down more easily and to
focus on the good things in life.
What are your advices to deal with stress? I am always
open for new things. Have a wonderful day.
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