How to cope with Stress

by Norma
(Scotland)

The way I cope with stress is very simple. I write as much as possible down. All that needs doing.

It is very reassuring to see lots of "ticks" as you go through the list.

Any new additions, always change the colour of your pen, that way you know they are just that, additions!

If you still find you are getting nowhere fast and feeling stressed by it all, then make a smaller list of things to do on that particular day.

Make sure it is slightly smaller than you know you can achieve.

Then when you have completed that list, take something else from the other list. Sense of major achievement.

Other tips are:

• Tell everyone NOT to disturb you.



• Sit down and have a drink of really cold water (not tea or coffee) sip the whole glass and think about what is making you feel stressed. Set a timer for 3 minutes. Concentrate only on the really cold water that you can only sip, and your breaths inbetween sips. When the timer goes off, whatever was stressing you out should not seem quite so bad.
  
  Sometimes we don't stop and respect simple things that we can get very easily like breaths of air and drinking water.