Stress Management according to Chris
As my Dad would always tell me, “You gotta be careful what you ask for.” Now like my father, I would say I’m a pretty determined dude. When It comes to work and studies, I like to be what’s called the “yes man”. I like to get my hands in as many cookie jars as possible, get involved and contribute as much as I possibly can. I like taking on responsibility, being held accountable, coming through for coworkers & friends, and keeping busy. Now when you can manage everything well, smooth sailing, but when managed poorly, well you’re in for a world of hurt.
Over the last few months, my busy minded nature has got me involved in a lot more then I could handle, juggling multiple works and university projects as well as some increasingly time-consuming personal obligations. I was trying to attack everything on every front at the same time and in the beginning, it wasn’t an issue. The thing is as time went on, I learned one of life’s truths the hard way. You can’t do it all, you’re not superman. Stress started to build up, anxiety was at an all-time high, I was sleeping maybe 4 hours a night, and to top it off, my health was beginning to deteriorate. Slowly, I was losing my edge in everything I was involved in. Projects, tasks, and even my personal life began to suffer.
It was one hell of an eye-opening experience, I was that kind of guy that would see people complain about stress and call bullshit, internally judging them on not being strong enough to handle it all, but boy was I completely off the mark. I was ignorant, arrogant, and youthfully naive. Stress is the silent killer, and It was time for me to figure out some way to manage it. And that’s exactly what I did. I had to suck up my pride, admit to myself I was wrong, and find a solution. So that’s what I did, and well now I want to share that with you. Because at the end of the day, we’re all just human. We got one body, one mind, and well we got to take care of it. Hopefully, y’all will find some of it helpful!
- Meditate
This has been hands down the biggest contributor in my stress management, and it comes as a big surprise to me. In all honesty, I’ve always thought of meditation as stupid, with multiple people recommending it, but I’m happy I finally budged. Someone close to me referred me to the headspace app, and now I spend 15–30 minutes a day meditating. It’s a nice and simple way to clear your mind and as corny as it sounds: “be one with your mind”. The relaxed feeling I get from meditating allows me to view my daily tasks with a refreshed perspective, and almost every time, it turns out it’s not as bad as I thought it was. - Exercise
Just like Meditating, exercise it just an excuse for you to force in some “me time”. In times of high stress, when everything is coming down around you, you forget about yourself. And putting all the health benefits aside, it’s just some time for you. Time for you to work on yourself. I’m a runner, and as little as 30 minutes a day and I’m already feeling magnitudes more confident and happy. Now it’s nothing new, It’s obvious this translates well into other aspects of your life. With that new “micro confidence” from that good ol’ endorphin rush, performance levels rise all over the place. At work, I’m more attentive, focused, ready for a challenge. - Ask for Help/ Know what you can handle
Be it at work, University, or whatever else, ask for help. In my case, I’d taken on more then I could handle, both at work and University. I was no longer fit to deliver my best work because I’ve stretched myself to thin. That was my mistake, and it’s ok. We all make mistakes. Screw the pride, and communicate you are overwhelmed. Your colleagues, friends, people will surprise you. Look to relieve yourself of whatever burdens you, and try to get back to a manageable state where you can produce something you’re proud of. - Time Blocking
Now I’m a little new to this one, but so far so good on my side. There are a lot more sources out there on the internet that can better explain time blocking and it’s benefits, so I won’t try and do that here. Really, It’s just more about managing your time appropriately. The reason I like time blocking so much is that, well, first of all, you have to plan out your day, so you get some kind of structure, and second, whenever you finish a “block”, that’s it. You move on to the next one no matter what. You’re still putting in the work and working on what you need to, but you’re not allowing some delay in one project/task to affect work in another. This is a debatable method, but one that has helped deal with anxiety and stress. It gives you a “justified” reason to move on from a nagging task that could possibly create a shockwave of delays in multiple projects (If you’re involved in multiple projects). - Make time for friends and hobbies
We’re social creatures. Relationships are important to us. Don’t let life take that away from you. Spend time with friends and cherish the important things in life, but keep in mind, if you don’t put the time in and work in to keep these going, they will fade. So take the time to see friends, at the end of the day, it really just helps your overall psychological state and reduce stress. Good times = Good vibes. Don’t become a grumpy old introvert as I did.
Hobbies are just as crucial. And a lot like meditation and exercise, it’s more like “me time”. Focus on yourself, do what makes you happy. Now if work colleagues actually read this, it may come to some as a surprise as to how much of a gamer I am. I am a fanatic. I love video games. And I find this so funny, because as a kid I always got the whole, “Stop playing video games! It will melt your brain!” speech countless times. And in these trying time-consuming times, it was one of the first things I threw out of the window. It was a small thing, but it removed a small bit of joy from life. Setting some time aside for it in the last month has really helped out in its own stupid way. A small little time frame to just escape into my own world, where the stress of the outside world just becomes irrelevant. So be it video games, painting, playing music, whatever it is, make sure to treat yourself from time to time.
Those are just some of the few things I found to be helpful. And hopefully, it can help you out. Stress and Anxiety are toxic monsters that have a way of making you feel like the whole world is coming down. Don’t listen to them. Fight back, take care of yourself, and know that without a doubt in your mind, things will always get better. You just have to make the first move.
