Hi Everyone!
Even though we are almost through our 2nd week of classes for second term I wanted to say welcome back! This is my first blog post since before Christmas so I wanted to ease back into it.
Over the Christmas break I had the opportunity to do some travelling. I visited Orlando, Florida and Cayo Coco, Cuba. If you remember from our first week of blogs I mentioned my heart belongs to Disney World so of course that is where I spent my time in Orlando. Things I learned from my trips…
1. Disney World really is the most magical place on earth! It can make you forgot all about life’s problems in simply a week. I spent the week not worrying about anything except the present day. It made it realize some important things in my life such as love, friendship and memories.
2. Cuba is a beautiful island. It can make you feel relaxed and recharged for your second semester of the school year.
3. Returning back to Canada at 1am on the Monday classes resumed can be very Stressful!!
With point 3…I learned that I do not handle stress the best in my life. Having spent almost all of my Christmas break travelling and not looking at a calendar once, I felt extremely overwhelmed when I returned back to school. I realized I needed to develop some stress coping mechanisms in my life for when things get rocky. I thought I would share with all of you what I found on my search:
1. First, figure out where the stress is coming from: For me this was easy, I realized my schedule and multiple commitments were the source of the problem. By targeting the actual cause of the stress in your life, you are one step closer to understanding the problem and building solutions to help manage the stress.
2. Manage your time well: As with my case, stress can happen because of multiple conflicts in your daily schedule. Try to manage your time the best you can (yes I know being a student can be hard work and managing your time does not always work well) but just try. Try keeping a schedule/planner to help keeps your days on track. Also understand that you cannot accomplish it all!! Target what it important to complete and move other things around that can be completed at a later time.
3. Do what you love: try to select activities that make you happy. Take time for yourself. Take time to breathe deeply. I find that yoga works well for me. What are some things that you love doing that can help relieve stress in your life?
Here is hoping for a stress free semester (or at least better strategies to cope with stress)!
Be well,
Kaitlin
Source: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/07/11/10-practical-ways-to-handle-stress/