Stress Management

Stress is something that I have always encountered. However, with the stress management strategies I learned how to somewhat cope with my stress. I decided to use the stress diagram and a day at a time strategies. I chose a day at a time and the stress diagram because I am a visual learner and I can actually see and learn about the different things that are stressing me out in my life and work on how to reduce that stress. The class I used these strategies on was Religion 101 because this class is ridiculously stressful for me.

The first strategy I used was a day at a time. I found this strategy somewhat helpful because I wound up listing the sources of my stress in my religion class. The helpful part of this strategy was the fact that I can assess what is really stressful about this class. For example, one source of my stress was my religion essay number 3, but I crossed it out because I managed to complete the assignment and that relieved the stress. I have gone up until now with the same list and haven't crossed anything off because I am still stressed by those other things. I realized the easiest way to get rid of this stress is to do whatever assignments I have to do or put myself in the best position I can to understand the materials.

After I made that list for the day at a time strategie I decided to make a Stress diagram of it to see which of these things are the most stressful to me. By using this chart I was able to see the different stressful elements of my religion class. The most stressful thing about religion 101 is the fact that I am trying to get above a C+ in the class because I am trying to get a 3.3 GPA. After using this chart I found it useful for sorting out how I can evaluate and  take care of the most stressful things in my life.

Stress Relieving Strategies

As a college student, on the PA/Pre-med track I am constantly experiencing stress. I am always trying to balance school, family, volunteer work, friends, and my social life. Most of my courses require a great deal of work inside and outside of class. At times I find myself having difficulty managing my time well while trying to balance all of these things, which in turn creates stress. This week is an even more stressful week because it is the week before Thanksgiving Break and the pressure to have all of my assignments and readings done before break has been creating a strain on me! So, in hopes of being alleviated with all of my workload, I decided to use two of Dr. Blumin’s stress management techniques: A Stress Diagram and A Day at a Time Part of managing stress is controlling your reaction to stressful situations. I let stress to get the best of me when I let my reactions to a stressful situation control me. THINKING ABOUT what causes this stress and what are constructive and destructive reactions to stress and how I manage it are beneficial ways to relieving stress!

For the Stress Diagram Strategy, I listed the sources of stress that I am currently experiencing. I listed 5 spaces and divided the chart into number of sections that corresponds to the number of stresses. Each section represents the relative amount of stress it is in your life.

List of Sources:

1. MAT 194-Math Web Assign 8.1 & 8.2 + Hand-In HW 8.1+8.2 (Due: 11/18)

2. CHE 106-Mastering Chemistry (Due: 11/18)

3. CLS 105 -Stress Management TECH (Due: 11/18)

4. HTW 307-Cultural Competent Volunteer Experience Presentation (on 11/17)

5. Study for upcoming exams and working on projects during Turkey Break

For the strategy A Day at a Time, I noticed that the more organized I am the easier it is for me to control my reactions to stressful situations. I am already accustomed to doing a strategy similar to this one. I usually write a list of things “TO DO” and when they are “DUE” in my planner. However, in the A Day at a Time strategy, I wrote a list everyday with about 4-5 items/tasks that are causing me stress. I wrote the list on a post it and posted it in my planner.

(Lists of Stressors)

Once I completed each of those things that were giving me stress, I checked it off or crossed it out. Trying this method was just as effective as the one I used to use. The delight I receive after crossing each task off is even better!

(CHE 106) Mastering Chemistry Assignment completed!

(WebAssign) completed!

I am both a visual and kinesthetic learner so I found these strategies to be extremely effective because I took the action of writing out the things I needed to do and I was able to visualize the tasks I already completed after crossing them off my lists of stressors.

The first initiative to combating stress is to understand what causes me to stress out. I’ve never really taken the time to actually sit down a think about things that cause me stress. By doing so and following these strategies, this allowed me to think about my constructive and destructive reactions to stress and how I manage them. To minimize stress, I decided to change the way I looked at certain situations and the way I reacted to them.

Proactive Stress Reduction

This week for CLS we were required to focus on stress management techniques. This topic came at the perfect time this semester as I was extremely stressed going into Thanksgiving Break. I decided that I needed to use strategies that would allow me to see what was affecting me. I made use of two strategies, the Stress Diagram and the Five-Minute Escape to help alleviate the stress I was going through.

The first strategy I decided to use, The Five-Minute Escape, turned out to be more effective than I thought it would be because it provided a detailed way to calm yourself mentally and physically. It had detailed steps that mainly focused on massaging and breathing to help rejuvenate the mind under a lot of immediate stress.

The steps for the Five-Minute Escape are:

1. Close your eyes.
2. Take five slow, deep breaths.
3. Rotate your shoulders in a circular motion, first backwards five times, then forward five times.
4. Massage your temples in a circular motion with your fingers for 30 seconds. Massage your jaw, concentrating on the hinges. Force yourself to unclench your jaw.
5. Slowly drop your chin onto your chest five times. Move your right ear to your right shoulder five times. Then switch the side, trying to touch your left ear to your left shoulder five times. Finally, move your chin to the left and touch your left shoulder. Switch to the right. Go back and fourth five times.
6. Cross your arms in front of you and reach around to your shoulders. Using your thumbs and index fingers, knead your trapezius muscle(runs along top of back) for about 30 seconds.
7. Take five slow, deep breaths.
8. Open your eyes.

This technique is extremely effective to get a quick release from any stress that is clogging up a calm mind. However, I found that you need to be in the right environment to get the most out of this technique. In my case I sat within my living room and started looking out the window. I haven't been home since the summer so seeing all the leaves on the ground was a sight that brought back memories. Putting myself in a comfort zone made it easier to relax with this technique.

Environment for Five-Minute Escape

After using the Five-Minute Escape I decided to get proactive with the stress I was under, so I used the Stress Diagram technique. This strategy helps to prioritize the causes for stress and which issues need to be taken care of first.

Stress Diagram

The Stress Diagram (shown above) is a pie chart which shows you the things that are causing you stress and which ones are the most stressful. As a linear and kinesthetic learner, my stress was a combination of academic and recreational activity. This is also a very visual technique and it helps to give you an image of all of your stress summed up as a pie chart. I noted that my main causes of stress were choosing classes for spring semester, transferring into iSchool, and performances in soccer. 

Knowing this, I contacted my advisor and went straight to the point with what I wanted to get done next semester. I had a set idea of all the classes I wanted and I made sure to let him know that the classes I was going to take were important to making a successful transfer into the iSchool. Because I knew of the things that caused me stress beforehand by using the diagram, I was able to devise a plan that would get me the best classes and the smoothest transfer into another college. I went about the same process for finding internships and getting a better financial situation by talking to my parents at home. They were able to encourage and reassure me that I would be able to fix those situations in due time.

Soccer however was a tricky one as the only way to release stress causes from playing soccer is to PLAY SOCCER. And that's exactly what I did, I laced up the cleats and spent some time outside practicing my skills. I felt better knowing that I was working towards getting rid of the stress that I was feeling from not performing at my best ability.

Soccer Stress Management

Using both of these strategies helped me to alleviate a lot of stress, and it made me more relaxed going into finals after break. I would recommend these strategies to anyone who needs to focus their energy on relieving stress.

Stress Overload!

This week’s tech assignment had a common theme of managing stress and taking a day at a time. I believe this is the perfect time to discuss these topics because one we all come back from our LONG Thanksgiving break, we will have to prepare for finals. As a new freshman, I am unsure what to expect for my finals and therefore I’m extremely nervous and stressed. Although finals are a few weeks away, they are constantly on my mind, which affects the work I need to do for my classes today. In order to stay focused I used the technique “One Day At A Time.” I also used the “Stress Diagram” to see which classes were causing the most stress and consumed the most time. In addition, I used the strategy “Five Minute Escape” to gather my thoughts and refocus when I was feeling overwhelmed. Keep reading to see how I was able to alleviate stress this week!

The strategy “A Day At A Time” was the most effective and helpful for me. In order to complete this strategy you need to make a list of five things you need to do the next day before you go to sleep. This was very effective for me because I am a linear and visual learner so to see everything I needed to do laid out was very visually appealing to me. It also showed me exactly what I wanted to and needed to accomplish the next day. I did it on my laptop that way every time I opened my computer, my list of tasks would be there reminding me of what I needed to do.

("A Day At A Time" strategy shown above)

I created this list on Tuesday evening and actually had seven items I needed to complete. In order to complete my tasks I thought about my schedule for the next two days and decided what I needed to do by when. My CLS blog is due Friday but I have about a three and a half hour car ride home Thursday were I was able to work on it. Also I had to read Black Dog Of Fate by the time I got back from break. I only have fifty pages left and if I read 25 pages Friday and 25 pages Saturday I will be done with it before most of my friends come home. Since two of my tasks could be help off for a few days I focused on the rest. The first thing I did the next day was go to CVS and get ink for my printer which I would need to print my philosophy paper. My paper was due on Thursday so after I bought the ink I went to Whitman and finished my essay before CLS. It was a great use of my time and since I was in Whitman, it was quiet and I was able to focus. After class I met with Wendy then stayed in the building and completed my project proposal. Being in a new environment allowed me to work and I was able to gradually delete items off of my to-do list. The most annoying task was my philosophy 107 questions. Yet once I was back at my dorm that night and my list was significantly smaller, I had the motivation to do them.

(Missed PHI 107 Questions Shown Above)

I sat down at my desk and turned off my television and competed the three questions in 10 minutes.

(Answered PHI 107 Questions shown above)

I then was able to lay in bed and studied for math. Since I had a clean and clear list, I completed my tasks easily and realized everything wasn’t due the next day and that I could stop and relax.

The next strategy I used was the stress diagram. The stress diagram is used to show what the major stresses are in your life. Currently, my major stresses are philosophy 107, MAT 285, and my body and organization. I can say those three topics cause the most stress in my life.

(Stress Diagram Shown Above)

These two classes are my primary concern because they are the only two classes I have finals in. Since finals are only three weeks away they are causing me stress. Staying organized and staying healthy is also a large concern because as I spend more time studying, I have less time to clean my room, do my laundry, and go to the gym. I adapted this to fewer categories. The strategy says to use five but since I am a linear and visual learner, seeing more topics would cause more stress. What I do to help reduce this stress is the Five-Minute Escape. This strategy is supposed to relieve stress in a short amount of time. What you do is:

1. Close your eyes

2. Take five slow, deep breaths

3. Rotate your shoulders in a circular motion, first backward five times, then forward five times

4. Massage your temples in a circular motion with your fingers for 30 seconds. Massage your jaw, concentrating on the hinges. Force yourself to unclench your jaw.

5. Slowly drop your chin onto your chest five times. Move your right ear to your right shoulder five times. Then switch the side, trying to touch your left ear to your left shoulder five times. Finally, move your chin to the left and touch your left shoulder. Switch to the right. Go back and forth five times.

6. Cross your arms in front of you and reach around to your shoulders. Using your thumbs and index fingers, knead your trapezius muscle (the one that runs along the top of your back) for about 30 seconds.

7. Take five slow, deep breaths

8. Open your eyes.

I used this technique for my philosophy 107 paper. This not only ties together all the strategies but it really helped me. The paper was on my checklist and as you can see by the stress diagram, it is something that is constantly on my mind and causing me anxiety. When I opened the email from my professor in Whitman, I did become stressed. As a result I start there for two minutes doing this technique and breathing. In addition I took a sip of water and really did feel refreshed. I was able to complete my paper in record time because I was focused and more relaxed. My allowing my brain to stop for a moment and my thoughts you clear, I was able to focus.

Stress is something everyone has to deal with. By using these three techniques together, stress is easy to overcome in a calm manor. Seeing a clean list of everything you need to do, seeing what causes the most stress, and using a technique to relax, the anxiety will disappear. I am an example of how to over come stress and how to prepare for the future. I will use these three techniques in the future but my favorite is “A Day At A Time.” I like the clean list of what I need to do and feel it is good to use as a reminder for errands and not just work!