Nurse Audrey's Stress Relief

Your Stress Relief Minute

Stress Relief – Schedule Your Time

For those of you with children, life is likely getting back to normal as they head back to school for another year. So, after a summer of R&R it is time to get back to our regular daily routines, or the daily grind, as some may say. Transitioning from one type of activity to another can be a bit challenging at times, causing one to feel a little overwhelmed and even stressful. The projects that have been put off over the summer may loom large now with scheduling difficulties, balancing family and work responsibilities.

The question arises: “How can I manage all of the tasks that I need to do this week? I feel too tired just thinking of them. After working all day, I just don’t have the energy to tackle home problems.” These are the kinds of negative thoughts that can stress us out! They are often blown out of proportion, making the problems worse than they actually are. It may not be the tasks alone that bog us down, but rather our thoughts, attitudes, and methods we use to tackle them. If we are not selective with our thoughts, we can become overwhelmed with even the simplest chores.

So then how can you tackle your daily list of tasks so as to remain calm and in charge?

Here are a few suggestions to help you successfully schedule your time throughout the week:

On Sunday evenings take a few quiet moments to plan your activities for the coming week
Then each evening thereafter, take a few minutes to formulate your to-do list for the following day. If necessary, consider plans for each hour, but do so in a realistic manner.
During each evening, evaluate the day’s activities, giving each one a number, prioritizing them from one to ten, evaluating the activities for success and for pleasure. In this way you can assess what you could have done better, and discover those which have given you less pleasure.
Give priority to the most important tasks, and be content to leave the less important ones for a later time. Understand that something unexpected could come up, such as an unplanned emergency that you cannot control.

Like it or not, we often create our own stress, but by carefully scheduling our tasks, we can reduce unnecessary stress, thus helping us focus more clearly on achieving greater productivity

In the April Newsletters we looked at thoughts and how they can impact our stress levels. I invite you to review them in the Newsletter Archives.

Give these suggestions a try and see how you do until the next newsletter. Then we will look at some simple methods using biofeedback, which is using the mind to control the body.

To lighten your day:

Never put off until tomorrow what you can put off until the day after tomorrow.

What’s the longest period of time?”
“One payday to the next!”

For the kids:

Why Study?
The more we know, the more we forget.
The more we forget, the less we know,
The less we know, the less we forget.
The less we forget, the more we know.
Why study!

When I was in school, one of my teachers was crazy about me. Once I heard her tell another teacher, ”I wish he was my kid for one day!”

Till next time… “Nurse Audrey” signing off!

Questions/Comments: audrey@possibilitiesnetwork.com
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