Stress managment tips?

[Silver_Kitsune]

School started today, my boyfriend's depressed because he's having a hard time finding a job, I'm trying to get a job, there's just too much going on. I'm stressed, which is one of my triggers, but I can't manage it at all. I can deal with sadness or anger without too many problems, but I cannot deal with stress. Maybe I expect too much of myself. I expect myself to get 90s in every subject, pass every test and quiz, get on the honor roll and try getting a 4.0 GPA (which is about 100% or an A+ if anyone thinks of GPA in those terms).

Any tips on dealing with it?

[theunspoken]

Yeah, man, trying to keep your 4.0 while working is stressful. That’s expecting an awful lot out of yourself, for anyone. I have a 3.95, which stressed me out because I got one B (in history). That was the semester I had to check into IP. I had to quit work for a few months.

I think one question you might want to ask yourself is why you have to achieve so much. I agree, getting on the honor roll is great and looks really good for graduate school and employment, but at what cost? Can you get one or two B’s and still be okay? Are you studying in a very competitive field? I totally understand because I'm the same way.

SI has always been my choice method of coping with stress, but I’ve heard loads of others. I’m not really good at any of these, but they should help.

Taking small breaks during the day. During these small breaks it helps to do breathing exercises.

Getting healthy, regular sleep is very important. Exercise helps.

Staying organized, which means you make sure you’re never late to any classes or work and you keep all of your assignments in order. Nothing is more stressful than losing your car keys when you’re late.

Setting aside time to relax. This may seem to add stress at first but you’ll find that you can put it in your schedule, even if it’s just for a few hours every week.

[kiwi33]

In my day job I am a university lecturer (= associate professor in the US system I think) and the advice that I always give students is that it is more effective to work steadily throughout a semester rather than over-loading when academic deadlines approach.

I agree with theunspoken's suggestions about stress.

Certainly breathing exercises work for me. I try to spend about 20 min each morning doing mindfulness/mediation and some progressive muscle relaxation - there is a link to a PDF which explains it here:

http://www.beyondblue.org.au/index.aspx ... ad&fid=326

This has made a really big difference to me.

HTH

kiwi

[christine24666]

I have the almost exact same problem! But I try to take breaks and remember to stay silly at times. I cannot eccept less than a 100 on all of my papers and quizes. So far so good but I can't help but think what's going to happen to me if I get a less than perfect score. I always make sure I'm well organized and work my way along with the course, rather than cram at deadlines which are a sure way to get yourself in deep doo doo. Good luck

[thelorax]

I'm in a really hard program in school as well, and I've tried to tell myself that, with the difficulty of what I'm doing now, the best I can do is the best I can do- and stressing out about it won't make my grades any better.

That said, I've been putting all my classes and activities on one big grid calendar, where I put all the assignments from every syllabus in one location at the beginning of the semester so that I don't get buried in the paperwork. That let's me think ahead a bit better, manage my time a bit better, and manage my stress a bit better.

Hope that helps a bit!