Stress Relief Center

Years ago, I was a different person. I was so overly stressed that I would literally scratch myself till I bled. What I didn't know was that it was related to stress. Luckily for me, the Stress Management class was a requirement for me to take in order to graduate... and it changed my life. Mike, the casual professor who lets you call him by his first name, started out the class talking about the physiology of stress and how we can manage our time better to reduce our stress. But the lesson that really hit home for me was on values and priorities. So instead of telling you all about the lesson, I'm going to walk you through it so you can use it yourself! Step 1: Write down 30 of your values, in no particular order. Step 2: Write down the things you prioritize, in order. By this I mean, what do you spend the most time on? Do you spend most of your week at work? That should be the top of the list. Work your way down so that the bottom of the list reflects what you spend

In direct contrast to the last post, I'm going to discuss saying "yes" to things more often. This last year was big for me, I did a lot of new things. I learned how to snowboard in January, learned how to scuba dive in March, got married and left the country for the first time as an adult in June, went on my first mountain trail ride on a horse in July, and started rock climbing in November! Each of these new activities taught me a lesson that I needed in life and has helped me further my abilities in each of them. That lesson is to say yes to new things and to keep pushing, even when you don't feel that you're good enough. The first step is to say "YES" more often. If someone asks you to try something new, be brave and say "yes"! You may not fall in love with the activity but each new thing you try will come with its own new experience and life lessons. When I first joined the scuba diving class, it was really for my now-husband. I wasn

The first few weeks of classes is the busiest time of the year for me. Between tracking down all those great (ish) deals on text books, getting back in the swing of attending classes, and hitting the gym, I barely have time to sleep! My friends are always asking me for help with stuff or to hang out and of course there’s the ever-nagging parents asking why I don’t come around more often. I try as hard as I can, beginning my day around 5:30 and getting to bed around 11, but after about 2 weeks of this, the stress and lack of sleep catch up and I get sick. I spend the next week in a haze of cough medicine and even less sleep, wondering how it even got to this point. My nose get’s raw and my body is barely moving and I finally take a day off work to get some much needed sleep and soup in my life. Then, at long last, the ever-elusive lesson about how to say no kicks in. I start to say “No” when people ask for favors or to spend an entire day together. At first people are a little put-ou