Stress Management

Dealing with stress management is an ongoing struggle but there are several ways to cope with your stress. I've learned what really stresses me out through the Stress Diagram and five minute escape.

When looking at my stress diagram, it was clear to see that school work is my main stressor. It consumes most of my time and while at school is my priority during the days. Because I am an art student I am in long studio classes during the day and use breaks to do other work I need to complete. It can be challenging to juggle but handling my stress and realizing that everything that needs to get done, will is an important thought I try to maintain.

This visual chart is a great way for me to realize my priorities and organize my thoughts.

The 5 minute escape was another strategy that I tried this week. While preparing to go home I realized how much I still had to complete. The stress and anxiety towards finishing so many things to make a deadline made this week hectic yet exciting to know that I would soon get a week off. After getting out a long studio class I used the 5 minute escape in order to clear my head from what I had just accomplished and then pursue the next thing on my "to-do list". It was extremely helpful to utilize my breathing in order to calm myself down when I felt that I had too much to do in too little time. I also tried this technique before going to bed in order to relax myself and have a good night's sleep.

Overall, being able to focus on stress management this week was great because it is something i find myself fighting with and had a lot of stress to deal with before the long week.