Look after your Body: Get plenty of sleep, exercise and nutritious foods. Eat 3 meals a day (high fiber,
low fat). Exercise 30 minutes, 3-5 times per week. Weight and aerobic programs build
strength and stamina and provide outlets to tension.
Take the time to Relax: When you feel tension building up, get away from its cause for a while. Develop a
form of relaxation. Leave your work at work.
Talk out your Problems: The stress of holding in your worries and anxieties can eventually make you sick.
When concerns build up, seek out someone a trusted and healthy person to talk to.
This helps to relieve the strain, puts things into perspective and can lead to a plan
of action.
Divide and Conquer: Don’t expect to do an entire activity all at once. As each step is completed, take
pride in having accomplished a part of the project. Pace yourself so that you’re
not feeling overwhelmed.
Deal with Anger: Vent in an appropriate manner. It’s better to express your real feelings than to
bottle up those you consider negative. Restrained anger often leaks out in destructive
ways.
Get Away for awhile: Getting yourself in something that’s entirely removed from what you do all the time
is an excellent way of giving your mind a break. Build leisure into your lifestyle.
Develop hobbies and activities that are of interest to you.
Be Realistic in your Goals: Don’t get caught up in the over-achievement, over-functioning syndrome. Most of us
have limits. It’s important to know what they are and to respect them. Give yourself
permission to say “no.”
Avoid Self-Medication: Don’t fall into the trap of using drugs and/or alcohol to relieve stress. Instead,
concentrate on what appears to be causing the stress and work to reduce or eliminate
the problem at its source.
Learn to Accept what you cannot Change: Focus on the present. Try to face things as they are and not as you wish them to
be. Attempting to change something (or someone) over which you have no control will
likely only lead to frustration. Learn the limits of your control and work within
those limits. The only person you can change is you.
Develop a Positive Outlook: Utilize positive self-talk. Re-label or re-frame feelings. Look at stressful events
as challenges and opportunities whenever possible. Increase tolerance of ambiguity
and the unknown. Develop creativity, humor and the ability to play.
