Week 4 — Stress Management
I feel like I got a weird start to this semester. I was still kind of lost and in the co-op mindset for the first week of classes, and then after the car accident, I was even more lost and unable to focus. Now, in week four, I think I’m finally coming around and starting to focus more on schoolwork and graduation.
I’m taking a stress management class this semester (which I recommend to all DAAP students, or all students in general), and it has really helped me so far, I’m enjoying trying the relaxation techniques and not feeling guilty about taking the time to do them because they’re also technically homework. Before this class, I wasn’t able to really focus on the relaxation techniques because my mind told me that I could be spending my time better, working on homework or job searching.
One of the techniques we learned about in class has been especially helpful; it’s called progressive muscle relaxation. It involves contraction of a muscle group and then relaxation of it, progressing from one muscle group to the next throughout the body. The contraction phase is designed to help people better recognize when they are bracing (contraction of muscles for no obvious purpose). It’s helped me notice more often when I’m holding tension in my body, and the relaxation phase has helped me more easily let go of that tension. Here’s a link to a progressive muscle relaxation guide shared in the class: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyy0ra2WcQQ
This relaxation technique has helped me relax and work through the tension from my car accident and anxiety from that, and has given me the ability to focus more on my capstone. This week I started working on exploring more with the layout, trying out different typefaces, researching ones created by Jewish or Israeli typographers specifically.
