The Final Post

Answer these questions as the focus of your final blog: How much progress did you make in your chosen area of self-improvement? What did you learn about yourself in the process? What advice would you give to another person with a similar issue?

I think that I have made a decent amount of progress since the beginning of the process. I know have a whole list of things that I can do when I feel that my stress is acting up or my worrying is becoming worse.

I learned a couple new things about myself from this project. I learned for one that a lot of my stress comes from various aspects of my life, and not just from school as I sometimes think it does. Some of it comes from over-committing myself and some comes from everyday pressure. I came to the realization that I don't always take good care of myself.

I would advise someone who is suffering from a lot of stress and worry to see where it is all coming from. If they can figure that out, it will probably start them off on the right foot. From there I'd suggest that they prioritize their daily/weekly commitments and see if they can balance all of their activities better to eliminate some of this stress. After that point I think that solving one's own personal stress would take a very individual route because everyone stresses over different things.

Planning Ahead

So I think I have come to a mini-conclusion about my obsessive planning. For one I think that the amount of stress that it adds to my life depends on what the events or situation is. Like I mentioned earlier, if I'm planning ahead for a 3 day weekend, it doesn't seem to be the end of the world. But on the other aspect of this is when I start to commit myself to so many different projects/groups/jobs/etc, then the over planning becomes necessary just to keep my life in order. That's where the problem lies. I have to be able to prioritize what is truly important, and commit to that first, and when other things come up I need to learn to say no thank you I have another commitment. I need to nip the stress in the bud, before it becomes something uncontrollable. If I stop spreading myself too thin, I will reduce the amount of stressors in my life.

Banish a Bad Mood in 15 Minutes

Here's an article I found. This can be extremely useful...

step one - decode your mood, find out what the problem really is by asking these questions:

• What's really bugging me?
• Am I avoiding something?
• Can it be more than one thing?

step two - calm down, take a few deep breaths and try one or more of the following to get your emotions under control:

• Focus on breathing
• Find a quiet place
• Distract yourself
• Get some exercise
• Blow off some steam

step three - create a strategy by doing these three activities in order to try to solve the situation at hand:

• Talk to a problem solver
• Make a list
• Visualize your ideal (picture what you want for yourself in that moment!)

Link to this article by Lisa Ann Smith

How Much Planning is Too Much?!

I just had a thought...

Since I get stressed very easy and am trying to reduce the worrying in my life, can my natural instinct to plan out my week days and weekends be hurting my progress? I'm not talking about doctors appointments and making sure I have time to stop and put gas in my car, but what if planning out what I intend on doing and who I intend on hanging out with over my upcoming 3 day weekend is actually adding pressure to this relaxing opportunity coming my way?

I already have a general outline of what I am doing all 3 days over this long weekend, and I have a bad feeling that this type of psycho-planning that I tend to do often actually adds stress. For example, say that on Saturday afternoon I find out that what I have planned for Sunday may potentially not happen. This may cause me to get a little tense. I know have to do everything in my power to make my plans work... adding worry, stress, and pressure over something in the future that is unnecessary for me to be thinking about right now! I am definitely going to think about this one and get back to it soon. We'll see how next weekend goes...

I said "No"

I'm not sure if I have mentioned this, I'm pretty sure I have but here it goes anyway. I am over committed. I have too much on my plate, and this leads to my downfall...

I think it was last week that I said "no thanks" to a minor commitment that was asked of me. It was optional, but it was a really nice thing to be asked of me. I was interested in what I was asked to do but after I though about the next several weeks filled with projects, tests, more homework, and my first dance competition of the season, I had to decline.

Surprisingly it felt really good to be able to NOT have to do something else. I think this is a small step in the right direction. Slowly but steadily i hope to keep all of my commitments under control and not just say "yes" to every little thing that comes my way. I don't have to do everything to be successful and happy!

Life isn't an Emergency

In Carlson's book (Don't Sweat the Small Stuff...and It's all small stuff), he advices his readers to repeat to themselves that life isn't an emergency! Sometimes as human beings we create our own emergencies. We add pressure and deadlines to our lives that are extremely unnecessary. It's advised that we learn to cut ourselves some slack. I know that I need to start doing this because when I don't I tend to become tired and frustrated all the time. Carlson reminds his readers to be able to admit that not everything is an emergency.

I've noticed that when I get too caught up in my work and worries I forget to make time for my friends and the people who are important to me. I ignore the way I am feeling and lose sleep over my "emergencies". I think it's time to prioritize and figure out what's really important and meaningful to me.

Being in the Moment!

So this weekend my dance company and I had our first competition on the season! It was a fantastic 2 days. We had a lot of fun and did a really great job at the competition. Looking back on those great two days I realized that I was applying one of my stress-less tips to my life without even noticing!

Not once either Friday or Saturday did I get concerned or caught up in anything else besides the competition. I didn't start thinking about school, or the fact that I didn't get to go to Winter Ball, or anything like that. I was in the present, and enjoying every minute of it. It felt great to appreciate where I was and what I was doing and the friends and family that came to support me and my company! It was an extremely rewarding thing to think about the past two days that way.

Lowering Tolerance for Stress

It's funny how in this day and age we admire people who can handle large amounts of stress and those of us who have a "high tolerance for stress". Why on earth would we look up to those people?! They are usually the people who are stressed all the time, myself included. Instead, Carlson advices people to not allow themselves not to be overly stressed, by not wanting to be able to handle lots of stress.

When you feel yourself becoming overwhelmed, stop what you are doing and go for a walk or take a short break. This will help your mind to refocus and reduce that sudden feeling of being stressed. In general, people function much better and have more fun when their stress level is low. It makes a lot of sense, but much easier said than done!