You're the only one in control of yourself, correct? We all know that, yet there is this horrible thing called STRESS that we let get in the way and take over! I know I don't let a week go by without being stressed whether it be school work, athletics, relationships, etc, whatever it is, I always let myself feel stressed somehow or another. This is because stress management just arrived into my life! Stress management is all about controlling yourself through understanding what causes your stress, learning how to relax, and staying organized. If you could go without any stress, how much better do you think you would you feel? Amazing right?! Well take my advice and try this strategy called A Day at a Time, it works with you to helping you organize and understand your reasons for stress. For me personally, this strategy is still in progress and I am still working to eliminate all of my reasons for stress, but stress is a big thing and it is going to take time for all different types of people.

So, to do this strategy, every night before you go to sleep, jott down five reasons that are causing you stress, I wrote on a bright green post it that I keep next to my bed so it is an easy little step. Try not to think too much about your reasonings after you write them down though so you aren't laying in bed thinking of all the reasons in the world that stress you out! (I did that the first night, DO NOT DO IT!!) But, the next day, then try to sort out the reasons for stress, I wrote them down because I am a visual learner and seeing them will help reinforce and understand my issues. Once you feel you have taken control of each different cause of stress, go a head and cross it off your list, but be honest with yourself so you can really help fix this! Keep all of the other items that continue to be stressful on your list each day until you work and have better control.

One thing in particular that stresses me out is my Spanish homework, it happens to me a lot, we have it every night and it isn't very time consuming, so I put it aside and do the other long assignments first, FORGETTING to come back to my spanish and remembering the morning of and having to jam it in quickly, not doing as well of a job then I could. In order to prevent my spanish stress was just doing it first. Getting it done quickly first, then I have all the time to do the long assignment after. Organizing and figuring things out can be so simple and help decrease such a horrible feeling!! Athletics is also another something that stresses me out a lot because I over think my daily schedule and think lacrosse takes up too much time and doesn't leave enough for my school work. All I need to do is use my fritter finder and wah-lah, I feel so much more relaxed because I found and used free time!

Simply just recognizing where your stress is coming from can be a small and helpful step to reducing your stress, but the strategy I just explained is a few more steps to that, so stress no more with A Day at a Time!!!