Stress Management

 Know Your Stress Management Techniques 

You can bring down the stress levels of your life in many different ways. Stress can be managed with time management tools, shifting your thoughts, and increasing your stress tolerance. It’s important to find the most suitable ways for you to manage stressful situations.  

If you have control over them, you should try to eliminate the stressors and stressful situations from your life. Are you stressed by too busy schedule or bad working conditions? 

Sometimes the stressful things that would need changing can be major, like relationships or changing your workplace or studies. Plan your steps in the stressful situations: what are your goals, how you reach them, do you need help and what is your schedule. Start from small, easy things and follow your plan.

Time Management Is a Vital Stress Management Tool 

Time management can bring out many emotions in us. For example inadequacy and guilt can rise when you feel like you have no time or can’t manage to do something. You start feeling like you’re in a hurry or have an illusion about not being in control. When you’re constantly in a hurry, you get stressed and overwhelmed. You might feel like you’re only benefiting others. The feeling of having control over your own life crumbles. You cannot control time, but you do have control over how you use the time on your hands. There are different tools and techniques for stress relief and feeling less busy. 

It’s a good idea to take a look at how you spend your time each day. Checking your use of time is also useful when you’re feeling stressed. It’s not only about the time and managing it, but also about leading yourself and planning your actions. 

Keeping track of your use of time  

You should keep track of how you spend your time daily. It can be useful to write down how your time is spent during one week. You should be honest and thorough in your notes. After a week, take a close look at your use of time: where did the time go, and can you spot any so-called time thieves? Were you concentrating on some else entirely when you were supposed to finish a task? This allows you to make changes if needed.   

Planning your use of time   

Planning and scheduling are the basis for time management. Good time-management skills start with setting objectives and the ability to work towards them. It’s essential to set goals for your action and act accordingly.  

When you have a bigger task at hand, planning it requires dividing it into smaller tasks:  

• What should you be doing each day? 
• In which order? 
• When should you work?  
• Where will you take your breaks? Please note that having a break at your computer is not refreshing if you’re also working on your laptop. Taking a short walk to a café or around the building will bring you more energy.  

Draft a plan of steps which takes you towards your goal. Make use of the notes on how you spend your time daily, this will allow you see how much time everything takes (versus being too optimistic about your time) and make your schedule more realistic. Keep in mind that planning is just the start. Make sure you don’t get too attached to planning only but take a bull by its horns.   

Keep track on your progress: 

• Think whether you have a sufficient number of tasks or if you’ve taken on more than you can manage. 
• If you have trouble keeping up with the schedule, fix your plan and adjust your timetable. 

You should make a detailed plan especially if you have difficulties keeping up with the schedule. There are also programmes and apps (like Trello) that can support your time management. 

Prioritising  

Prioritising is about the things you find worth investing in and committing to. Make a list of things that are valuable to you, then pick the most important and time-sensitive ones and start with them. Consider the possibility of giving something up.   

Be faithful to your values. Check if your values are present in your timetable and goals. Living according to your own values is not straining nor will it take up your mental resources. Living your values is meaningful. 

Be brave enough to decline others’ requests and expectations. Think first what you’re getting into. You’ll start getting busy if you react to others’ expectations before considering them. Learn to say NO.  

Be reasonable and make sure there’s time for recovering. Your schedule should be flexible and have room for surprises. Too busy schedule might lead to burnout or procrastination and not being able to perform because of unreasonable objectives.  

Changing Your Thoughts 

Stop and think if your stress is related to the high standards you have set yourself. Are your thoughts demanding like “I cannot fail”, “everyone else is better at this”, or “I should complete all my tasks perfectly”?  

 Having unreasonably high standards and demands towards yourself can be very straining. Try to have more self-compassion and change your thoughts into kinder ones, for instance by setting realistic goals.  

Affecting Your Own Thoughts 

• Give yourself a permission to enjoy things. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re worse than others when you’re stressed.  
• When you feel too busy, stop and evaluate the situation: recognise your limits and resources.  
• Show yourself understanding and be satisfied with your accomplishments so far.  
• Take a look at the demands you have towards yourself and think if there’s more room for kindness. 
• Try not to worry. Instead of ruminating, find concrete solutions to situations.  
• Keep in mind that there’s no changing the past. Try to accept it or adjust and move on.  
• Keep in mind that small errors are not the end of the world. Failures are understandable and accepted.  
• Keep in mind that life isn’t all about accomplishments.  
• Have faith in your own ability to manage stress and lead your life. 

Get More Stress-resilience 

The effects of exercise and nature’s green care 

Getting enough regular exercise helps with stress, anxiety, and tension. Doing sports relaxes you and is energising. You’ll get to know your body better and it‘s easier to relax. You’ll get in a better mood and feel better about yourself. When you exercise, your body starts producing feel-good hormones like endorphins, and mood-leveling serotonin metabolism increases. Exercising makes your muscles less tense and helps you deal with your feelings.    

Taking a walk or jogging can be a good way to free yourself from a stressful situation. When you get fresh air, your mind feels brighter. After taking a walk, problem-solving gets easier and sometimes you figure out the answers when you’re still outside. Exercising makes it easier to focus, it increases blood flow to the brain and helps concentrate on something new for a while. After moving our bodies, we get more creative and get a broader perspective. 

If you feel somewhat stressed, high-intensity exercise eases your stress. When you’re very stressed, this no longer applies. If you feel highly stressed, you should choose low-intensity exercise. Running could be replaced with a calming walk in the evening, yoga, or something soothing. Relaxing movement can calm your worked-up body and mind.  

Green care (a variety of nature-based methods) has many scientifically proven positive effects on people, and it is known to help recovering from stress. Your mind recovers most effectively in a place which brings you peace and makes you forget about negative thoughts. Nature makes it easier to forget everyday troubles and worries. The longer a you spend outdoors, the longer the positive effects on your wellbeing last. Adding even small nature elements in your daily life brings you the beneficial effects of nature.  

Take care of your relationships  

When you’re stressed, you might often feel like you don’t have the time nor the energy to meet anyone or maintain your relationships. However, having supportive and energising people around is vital for our wellbeing. Do not shut other people out because you’re stressed. 

• Say yes to the people near you when they want to give you their support. 
• If you’re stuck in a stressful cycle, talk about it to someone. When sharing thoughts, you might find new ways to stress relief. 
• Despite being tired, try to meet other people. 
• Stick by your boundaries. Be assertive.  

Enjoy your everyday life 

A happy everyday life is the basis for personal wellbeing. Even when you’re stressed, stop to think about how you’re feeling. Ask yourself: “What do I need right now?”. Would it be sleep, food, rest, or exercise? 

• Keep up your daily schedule and routines. 
• Exercise according to your body’s needs and energy levels.   
• Remember to rest and relax as counterbalance to exercising. Relax for a moment daily. 
• Get enough sleep. 
• Eat healthily and regularly.  
• Try to make your work or study conditions less stressful.  
• Use alcohol moderately. 
• Do nice things that give you pleasure. 
• Enjoy nature’s calming green care. 
• Pamper yourself. 

Stress and stress management are related to our values, goals, and ambitions in life. If we wish to be efficient, achieve a lot quickly, then the timeline is strict and we’re busy. It’s not a necessity or compulsion, but our own making.  

We can also learn to control how we react to stress. Doing pleasurable things in life and changing negative thinking are good examples of this. Relaxing is also an important factor in stress management, the next chapter is dedicated to it.   

You can give feedback.