STRESS!

Lynae N.

November 7, 2009 - 9:38 PM

It's that time in the term again. I wasn't expecting it and WHAM! time to kick the pressure up a notch (or ten). I have had an amazingly relaxed term so far, especially considering my busy schedule of school, work, internship, externship, family, church, and volunteer work. I can't say that prior to this week I had any measurable level of stress this term. No one is more shocked about this than I am and I had spent months before classes started back up working up an anxious worry about juggling all of my commitments and responsibilities. True, not every area of importance has been able to receive my full. However, I think I miraculously found the ability to give myself grace and understand that for now I am successful in the balancing act I'm juggling.

I started to realize how not stressed I was this term when I noticed my friend grow increasingly tense. It is incredible to watch the effects of busyness and stress on a person; I had just never noticed it before because I had always been that stressed person. I know what others had to say about me in this state, that I was like a stretched rubber band that would shake and get agitated whenever flicked or poked by people or situations. Now being in the position of being the least stressed among my peers has given me the opportunity to watch and see how we are all like stretched rubber bands when there is enough pressure from being pulled in two or more directions to our limit.

But like I said, stress hit this week. I know I don't have much left to do and I truly am on the home stretch. This doesn't alleviate the knowledge that the end of the term is still flying at me a million miles and hour and I have multiple books to finish reading and major assignments to complete. I feel my saving grace right now has to be the fact I am finishing books and completing assignments and not in the position to be starting any of them this late in the term. I'm really proud of myself for this. I always have the intention of working my terms out this way, but it has felt that up until this point, there was just too much and it was realistically impossible to be on track. So while stressed, I am managing the stress and am not overwhelmed.

One thing I have done to protect myself from stress is Mondays. I love my Mondays. Monday is the day where I have no classes, no clients, my husband is at school and internship all day with the car, and my daughter has both school and an after school program. I am alone from 8:00 am until 6:00 pm. I get to be in pajamas all day, cook good meals, getting the house cleaned and the laundry done, and I bust out massive amounts of homework. They are a refreshing time for me and I appreciate having this weekly routine as a part of my life.

But perhaps you are not as fortunate to have a Monday, or any other day like my Monday. Perhaps you are feeling like a stretched rubber band right now. Here are a few things that I also do that I have learned help:

THERAPISE YOURSELF

1. Sit in a comfortable position and relax with your feet flat on the floor with your eyes either opened or closed

2. Tense all the muscles in your body as hard as you can for five seconds

3. Relax your muscles

4. Take deep rhythmic breaths in through your mouth and out through your mouth, being sure to feel your belly and back expanding to hold the air

5. Concentrate on your feet, feeling them tingle or feel like they are getting sucked into the ground

6. Breath three times

7. Move to your calves

8. Repeat step six

9. Continue moving up your body, taking it piece by piece and continue breathing deeply

10. When you are done, pay attention to any parts of your body still holding stress and breath three times into that area

11. When you are done you may repeat or end the exercise