STRESS!!!

Have you ever been soo stressed out to the point where you just physically want to break down??? I think we as Full time College students have reached our breaking point once or twice. In CLS this week we learned a few strategies on how to reduce the amount of stress you have. For me I have a very hard time dealing with my stress, because I feel like just when I have it under control something has to happen to make me stress out AGAIN!!! In our workshop on Monday Janine mentioned 3 different ways on how we can reduce our stress, which are: Relaxation Strategies, Stress-O-Meter, and the Stress Diagram. For this weeks Blog I decided to choose the Relaxation Strategies and the Stress-O-Meter. I chose these two things because they both show me two different sides to my stress. The Relaxation Strategies is where you basically jot down all the ways that at the end of the day help relieve your stress. For the Stress-O-Meter you right down what stresses you out, how you reduce the stress, the day of the week, and what level of stress it is. For the Relaxation Strategies I would either write down what stressed me out at the end of the night or right after it happened. After doing that I always go back to the previous pages where I wrote down my stressor or a inspirational quote. I bring this book with me EVERY single day just in case. To start the Stress-O-Meter you make 4 different columns, then make the first column the day(s) that you were stressed, the second column is for the level of the stress, then what stressed you out, and finally the fourth column is where you put down any reducers.

Relaxation Strategies:

Stress-O-Meter

Using these two strategies really helped me stay calm and not worry soo much over certain things. It was also good for me to actually write down the things that stressed me out, because it would just stick in my mind. So every time I came across that certain thing I would remember it and not allow it to stress me out again.

How to cope with STRESS

"Stress is the body's reaction to a change that requires a physical, mental or emotional adjustment or response." I seem to never take time to find a way to escape from my stress; rather I just try and cope with all the pressure I have from my school work. During the CLS workshop, one of the T.A.’s talked about some strategies to us for students to help deal with stressful issues that a college undergrad will regularly go through. For me, I always tend to always have sporadic thoughts going on in my head usually dealing with the topics of school, social schemes, friends/family and sport. Its seems as if I am never able to escape the random thoughts that always spin around in my head which in turn, ALWAYS makes me stressed. Talking in workshop about stress reliever strategies really helped me reevaluate how I should control myself when the “going gets tough.”

The two strategies I decided on using were, Five-Minute Escape and Stress Diagram. I decided on both of these because with the stress diagram, I am able to rank all of my stressors, explain why they make me stressed and what about them makes me so stressed. Ranking my stressors and explaining the reasons for their effectiveness on my stress levels shows that I need to take more time in making these topics a priority and to try and find effective ways in helping them lower my stress. But, there was a downside to ranking my stressors, when I ranked what made me so stressed it seemed to keep my stress levels up instead of looking at them and trying to make a way to fix it so I won’t be so anxious when dealing with these topics. I took the approach on once again reevaluating my stressors and WRITING OUT why they make me so anxious and stressed. Once I did that, I had a better attitude on being able to deal with the pressure of school and other things in my life because I wrote down why it made me stressed. I then was able to talk about what makes me stressed which helped because I was then able to get feedback on other ways to approach stress. With that being said, the second strategy that I used that was very beneficial to dealing with stress was the five-minute escape. Instead of stretching, closing my eyes and rubbing my temples I found that what helps relieve stress for me is watching the news. I usually will take a little over five minutes probably ten to read over a daily article from CNN or The New York Times and usually that will help me get my mind off whatever that was making me stressed and then go back and do my work or whatever productive thing I was working on. Normally that always does the trick for me and I will always learn something new also.

An important goal for me is to have a “balanced life,” with school, friends and how I use my time. Managing stress is all about taking charge of you, your thoughts and emotions. LET’S TAKE CHARGE!

STRESS

For this weeks tech-assign on Stress, the two strategies I used were a Stress Diagram and 5 Minute Escape. I used the stress diagram so I could map out the main things that stress me out and figure out how I can calm myself down more when I'm feeling real stressed. I used 5 Minute Escape to help me get away from the stress and to calm me down. While mapping out the Stress Diagram I realized there are five major things that stress me out and can actually have an effect on my day. Papers, Exams, how busy I am through out the day, lacrosse, and trying to figure out my major are the biggest things that stress me out. The most emphasis goes on papers and exams because they are the most important task for each of my classes. It just stresses me out even thinking about papers and exams. The least emphasis has to go on lacrosse since it can actually calm me down sometimes. The only time it really stresses me out is if I'm in a slump. Mapping out my top five stressors really helped me to see what causes the most stress and what causes the least stress. Since papers and exams cause the most stress for me I need to figure out away to make my studying experience and my experience writing better. If I use the 10 min technique when I write papers I think it will relieve a lot of my stress while I'm writing because I won't feel so much pressure to have to write a full paper in one night. I can spend snippets of my day working on it until it is finished. Also using 20 minute test prep to study for exams helps me because I basically have a practice test to help me study. For 5 minute escape I took one of my all time favorite videos on youtube and watched it a couple times. This is an adaption to the strategy in the book but it is something that relieves stress for me. I like this strategy because whenever I am feeling overwhelmed I can turn to the video and feel some relief. The reason I watch the video I'm posting is because it makes me feel like you can accomplish anything you set your mind too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i3g-RvC-iA&feature=related

Stress Management

A Day at a Time

On Tuesday I wrote down 3 things that were stressing me out.

1) Preparing to go home for break. I had to find a ride back home, do laundry, pack, and plan my weekend for this break.

2) Scheduling. I was worried that I wasn't going to get into any of my classes because my enrollment date is November 17th. I had to meet with my advisor, and plan out the classes that I should take for the Spring semester.

3) HW. Since next week is the break, I had a variety of tests, quizzes, projects, and assignment this week.

Writing these things down on a post-it did not relieve my stress, but actually stressed me out even more. I posted this on my desk, and it just bothered me that I kept getting reminded of these 3 things. However, one good thing about it is that since the post-it did remind me of the 3 things every time when I was in my room, it forced me to get everything done quickly.

I found myself a ride with my friend, and planned to stay at st johns University this weekend. Also, I finished enrolling in class Thursday morning, and now I dont have to worry about it until next semester. I met with my advisor 2 weeks ago, and I knew the classes I had to enroll in way before my actually enrollment date, so I was well prepared. Lastly, I got through this week, and with this final tech assignment it will be the last thing I will be doing this week. The reason I was able o finish all my assignments and Homework was by working in between classes. I found it easy to focus right after class, and furthermore it helped me get my work done in a efficient manner. I do not think "A day at a Time" relieved my stress but it was a good way to remind me of certain information.

5 Minute Escape

The 5 minute Escape has been something i've been doing for a long time. I learned from my Mom when I was younger that when i'm stressed I should stretch, and massage my temple in a circular motion. I found this strategy especially helpful when I have back to back classes and I just feel burnt out. When I feel stressed my head becomes one big fog, and I cant concentrate on anything. This strategy helps relieve this stress, and by just moving around it helps me mentally to just get through my day. On Wednesday, I had 3 papers due, and I was writing for about 7 hours straight. Every 30 minutes I found myself using this technique to clear my mind, and to take a short break from my writing. If I didn't know about this strategy there is no possible way that I could write for 7 hours without passing out on my desk.... I LOVE the 5 minute Escape! The picture below explains it all :) It is very relaxing, and I recommend it to everyone, even kids.

Time Wasters and Fritter Finder

Time Wasters

Procrastination is a problem that all students have to deal with. With the growing advancements in technology, I think it is easier than ever to get sidetracked from work, and putting the assignment off till the last minute. I thought time wasters was a good strategy to deal with procrastination. By identifying the source of the problem such as texting, I was able to refrain from studying with my phone on. Now, I like to turn off my phone, so I would not get tempted to text or call anyone. I noticed from past experiences that studying while texting is the worst thing to do. Trying to memorize definitions while sending text back and forth with a friend is not efficient for studying. This strategy helped me notice the problems, and by doing so it made me think of solutions to prevent me from doing those time wasters when I am trying to get my assignments done.

Time Strategies

Also, another reason why I tend to procrastinate is because I leave all my work for the night. After a long day of classes it is overwhelming to do work afterwards, so as a result I procrastinate. The fritter finder was a great way for me to see the 2-3 hrs in between my classes, where I could actually get most of my work done. I save time, and it allows me to sleep earlier. As a learner who gets too restless during the nighttime, the best time for me to focus on my work would be during the day. The fritter finder helped me this past week because I didn't get sidetracked from my work. I felt refreshed, and motivated to finish all my work in between all my classes, leaving me the nighttime to relax with my roommates.

Quit wasting you TIME!!!

The two strategies that I used this week were the Time Wasters and the 10- Minute Technique. I chose to use the Time Waster, because I always find myself doing other things when I should be doing my work. The Time Waster can be used for all of my classes so it will help me stay on task. I made two columns and on the left side I put down all the things that distract me from doing my work and on the right I put down how I can avoid those distractions. When I did this, it showed me that I really need to find a way to not get distracted so easily. For the 10-Minute Technique I used it for my MAT121 and BIO121 classes, because I have exams coming up. This technique really helped me stay focused, because I was only looking at the information for 10 minutes at a time. I get distracted very easily and sometimes even get bored with the information that I have to read. I would do some math problems for 10 minutes then go to bio flash cards and if I was on a roll then I would keep going even if I exceeded the 10 minutes. I really liked using these two strategies because it helped me realized the things that I need to change and helped me stay focused while studying.

Time Wasters

The week before Thanksgiving break I have an intense amount of school work to complete and make up. Over the course of last week I was extremely sick and wasn't able to go to most of my classes. I am still making up all the work that was due plus the new information that I need to learn and complete.

For Tech Assignment #8 I used two strategies, Time Wasters and Time Strategies. For the time wasters, I put down all the things that help make me unaccomplished with my school work and other important work that I need to finish. After I wrote up all the things that helped waste my time when trying to accomplish school work I made up a fritter finder that helped determine what time I had available between class and practice so I could sit down and study. After completely my fritter finder scheduled realistic amounts of time for doing assignment and studying. For me, I can't tell myself that I am going to sit down and study from 5-10 at night, that is just not possible for my brain to focus for that long so I decided to use 20 minute STUDY/TEST prep to help keep me focused.

For the 20 minute STUDY/TEST prep I started out with my EAR101 exam and wrote down note cards for all the important terms that I need to remember for my next exams. After the 20 minutes were up I moved on to creating my outline for ANT273 Christianity Doctrine that is due on the 20th. After my 20 minutes were up for that I went back to EAR101 and studied my flashcard for another 20 minutes. When those 20 minutes were up I went back to ANT273, looked at what I had finished on my outline and started to begin writing my introduction paragraph for my rough draft. I went back and forth for 20 minutes in these two topics until my rough draft for ANT273 was completed.

Working with these two strategies and trying to make adaptations for them were at first somewhat difficult because I have trouble with trying to stay focused. Putting down my time wasters and then putting down what my avoided tasks are next to them showed me that I need to seriously reevaluate my priorities and this tech assignment was a start to fixing that. With doing the 20 minutes study/test prep, I was too busy going back and forth between two courses that I forgot about the outside world and just focused on my studies.