Undress the Stress: Day 24

I forgot to blog last night because I just really wanted to go to sleep…

So now let me tell you what stressed me out yesterday.

NOTHING!

Somehow I went through an entire day without feeling stressed or worried.  I doubt that most people have ever experienced a completely stress-free day while they aren’t on vacation.  And I think I have this blog series to owe for that wonder.  By keeping track of the stressors in my life for the last 3 or so weeks, I’ve found patterns.  I know what stresses  me out, how I deal with it, and what I can do to de-stress.

Most people stress and they don’t know why, and I would absolutely recommend this process for them, and everyone else.  Finding the root of the problem is the first step in fixing it.  Having somewhere to go to and rant is also an effective way to express yourself.  Taking a few minutes to reflect on your day is extremely productive but it only works if you get into the habit.  It’s not something you can do at your leisure.  If you want to find the stressors and get rid of them, you have to commit.  Not forever, but as long as it takes.

It finally feels like I’m making progress in “undressing” my stresses.  I’ve learned so much about myself by reading my own blogs.  Some common stressors that I’ve found include money, relationships, and deadlines.  It’s nice to know how I can cushion the blow of incoming stresses since I know what to expect from myself.

I can only cross my fingers and hope that stress will stop choosing me as its victim now that I refuse to feel its presence.

In the words of Jason Mraz, “You don’t need a vacation when there’s nothing to escape from.”

Undress the Stress: Day 18

So today I had a number of moments in which I felt under pressure.  Not so much stress, but short bursts of overwhelming feeling.

• Term paper.  Today was the due date for one of my midterm papers and I had it completed but I never edited it or formatted it, so I set my alarm a little earlier to get it done.  Normally I hate going to bed without finishing what I need to do because the stress is only worse when the deadline is closer. Plus I would rather to go to bed knowing that I’m all finished instead of waking up and being worried right away.  But I just couldn’t focus last night.  Hump day got the best of me.
• Midnight Run.  I’m part of an organization called Midnight Run and you can read about my first trip with them here.  We are made up of about fifteen students under different committees and every semester, we collect clothing and food donations and deliver them in person to the homeless on the streets of New York City.  It’s one of the best experiences I’ve been apart of so far, and all of the hard work we put into the program is worth it when we make the deliveries and change a handful of lives.  I felt a little bit stressed and very much under pressure because the trip is approaching soon and the week off of school from Hurricane Sandy has slowed our progress down and it seems like not everyone is taking this as seriously as it should be.  I spoke up about this earlier today and the problem is solved.  Sometimes all it takes is a voice.

That’s all for today I guess!

It’s such an amazing feeling to sit here with the intention of ranting about my day and all the moments that I felt stressed.  But it’s even more amazing to sit here and not have much to rant about.  After that second bullet point I legitimately sat here while two entire songs passed by on my playlist, and I couldn’t think of anything else that stressed me out today.

Maybe a stress blog is all you really need to be able to look back on your day and find the best parts by examining the worst parts first.  I know from experience (and from being a human in general) that in the moment, everything is much worse than it is in retrospect.

A few weeks ago during one of my first few stress blogs, I was seriously freaking out about paperwork and deadlines and other study abroad responsibilities that I had, but at the end of every day I always knew there would be tomorrow to take care of it all.  Whenever there was a setback or someone I needed to reach was not in the office, I would be so unnecessarily annoyed, and it affected the rest of my day.  Well, I’m sick of that.

It’s time to accept that some things are simply out of my hands and there is no sense in worrying.  Worrying is the last thing that could help solve any problem.

So follow my footsteps.  Take a breath, time travel and look at your moments of stress with a retrospective eye, and carry on.  It really is so, so easy.

 

Undress the Stress: Days 3-14

WELLLL I’m sure no one is surprised that I’ve bailed on this daily stress log that I promised to devote myself to, BUT this time I think my excuse is somewhat acceptable (but not for the entirety of the 11 days I missed).  Hurricane Sandy took away my power (literally) and I haven’t had a chance to blog at all.

I think I’m going to attempt writing a list right now of all the stresses I can remember from the last 11 days.  This alone will probably stress me out.

• Study abroad deadlines.  Still waiting on paperwork and e-mails back from several people and I’m just growing impatient because I’ve been asking/calling/e-mailing/following up on this for WEEKS now.  It’s very inconvenient and stressful to meet deadlines when I’m not getting the information that I need.  Every time this comes up I just remind myself that there’s nothing I can do about it except continue to (or try to) be patient.
• Relationship stress.  I guess I could potentially be over-analyzing, but I can’t help how I feel.  Long distance relationships are HARD and I’ve found that the further the distance, the harder it is, and all the more work is required.
• 15-page midterm.  Because a hurricane just hit, I had no electricity or heat for five days, I have a life, five other classes, and not enough time to write this many pages about pop culture and Jean Baudrillard.
• Hurricane Sandy.  Why does she think she can just barge into our lives, take our power away, flood our streets, knock our trees down and rain on our parade?  How rude.  Because of Sandy, I was stuck indoors for too many hours.  The majority of my town lost power for days (I think some areas still don’t have it restored), the temperature in my house was colder than it was outside, and a lot of my schoolwork couldn’t be done without Internet.  And to top that all off, my room at school had some water damage/leakage/flooding but thankfully a friend did what he could to reduce it.  It has been a highly unusual stressful week for me, but it was not as bad as it could have been.  My thoughts are with those who lost more than Internet access.
• Despite all this Sandy devastation, I still celebrated Halloween (Chipotle’s $2 Boorrito Fundraiser anyone?), found that good people still exist, and got to spend quality time with family (in candlelight and surrounded by snacks that we felt obligated to eat…).

     

(That last picture was taken in front of a very generous person’s home.  A surge protector and a sign that read “Please charge your phones and computers here!”  Good people are out there.)

Lots of wonderful things happened in the last 11 days too!  More to come about that.  Lots of blogs to write!

Writing these stress blogs is such a great relief.  Instant recommendation for anyone who has any type of stress.  Which is everyone.