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I am stressed! I know I’m just joining the club, but I still have a lot going on. The breaks are going out on my car, and I think I’ve put it off long enough so now the bolts are going too. I just broke up with my fiance. I had to go to the ER, which caused me to miss all my classes and now I’m behind in college already, and the semester just started. I also missed a test because I had the flu and was in bed all weekend. What’s worse, my doctor told me that I need to de-stress in order to get better. It feels like everything in my life has been going wrong. But you know what? I’ve decided to do something about it.
I called the mechanic and made an appointment for tomorrow to bring my car in. I e-mailed all of my teachers and made appointments with each of them to make up what I missed (including that test I hope!). Oh, and I’m going to the doctor today for a follow-up appointment to make sure everything is okay.
After breaking up with him, I no longer feel obligated to worry about his problems on top of my own. I still want to marry him, but he needs to get his life figured out first. I feel good about my choice, and I know things will work out eventually.
Guess what? I don’t feel so stressed now.
So after hearing my whole story, let’s look at what I did to take care of my stress problems, and maybe all of you can use these principles to de-stress your own lives. First off, I took care of things. By emailing my teachers, calling the mechanic, and seeing my doctor, I am solving the problems I’ve been worrying about. I think sometimes people get stressed about things because they don’t know what they are going to do. As you can tell, I didn’t solve everything in one day; I just got the ball rolling. I’m doing what I can today and have a plan to get everything else taken care of within a reasonable amount of time.
This brings me to my next de-stressing tip: don’t do it all in one day. If you try to, you will lose your mind (I would know!). Instead, I just planned out what I’m going to do and when. Car tomorrow, doctor and some school today, and some more school next Tuesday. As for the break-up, well, there’s not much I can do.
Which brings me to what I think might be the most important part of de-stressing: letting go the worries you can’t solve. I can’t do anything about where my former fiance is going, and he should go his own way. Because I’ve done all I can, I have decided to just let it go. I’m hopeful for a bright future, but I’m not going to worry about the “what-ifs” any longer. Things will work out eventually.
Overall, I think the key to dealing with stress is to remain objective and logical. Simply take care of your problems as needed, plan out how you are going to solve the bigger problems, and let go of worrying about things you can’t resolve. If you apply these techniques, you’ll be happier. I’ve proved it myself.