[STRESS] Stress Reduction Plan and 10-Minute Vacation

Stress sometimes makes me out of control. I had no idea how to handle the stress. I realize that it is harder to do well in college than it was in high school. I know it is important to do better in my classes. I’m starting to feel the pressure of grades for this semester. Stress is building. To manage my stress, I’ve tried two strategies, which are Stress Reduction Plan and 10-Minute Vacation. One course that makes me the most stressed so far is MAT 194, Pre-calculus. I applied the two strategies for MAT 194 this week.

Stress Reduction Plan is to help me recognize that I can control my stress levels by engaging myself in activities. There are many options: physical activity, pamper yourself, change your environment, share it, enjoy, and get help. Among there choices, I decided to pamper myself, to share it, and to enjoy. To pamper myself, I chose to get extra sleep since when I go to bed and wake up few hours later, I feel refreshed. After I finished on-line assignment for MAT 194, I got extra sleep about 30 minutes. To share it, I called my friend after I completed handed-in homework. I talked with her about 20 minutes, which made me energized do another work. I had another on-line assignment due Saturday, but I didn’t want to do. I should manage my stress to do my assigned work, so I did the last choice to enjoy. To enjoy, I listened to music before starting it. I decided to watch TV shows after completing it, which became a motivation to do the work. This plan made me control my stress and do my work.

(http://fortheluvofsanity.blogspot.com/2011/03/on-friends.html)

10-Minute Vacation is to help me get away from the work I am doing for a specific amount of time. There are six “vacation spots”, including movie clips, Google Earth, Google Maps, Youtube, games, and a pink blog for pop-culture icons. I accessed each one of them, and I liked the “Pink is the new blog” a lot. I decided to spend time with the blog for the 10-minute vacation. For MAT 194, I had to study for lab4. I put each 10 minute break after 30 minutes study time. After the study time, I accessed to the blog. There were a lot of fun issues about popular stars in America. I liked the blog since the background color is pink. It was good to browse in 10 minutes. After the break, I started studying again and focused on it. Because I could have 10 minutes breaks, I didn’t get stressed that much.

(http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/)

To sum up, the effectiveness of Stress Reduction Plan is that it makes me have a break what I want to do. Because of stress, I didn’t finish my work in one day, but it took more than two days to do. Therefore, I should set few days to complete. However, this plan made me complete homework in one day. Being a kinesthetic learner, this plan was good to keep up since I could do some activities such as getting extra help, calling a friend, listening to music, and watching TV shows. Because of this plan, I could finish on-line assignments on due dates for MAT 194. The reason why I chose this it that I have about 30 choices to select the options to spend during my break time. I chose 4 options: get extra help, call a friend, listen to music, and watch TV shows. The effectiveness of 10-Minute Vacation is to help get me reenergized. Especially, I liked the pink blog very much. Being a visual learner, the blog provides pop-eyed colors and issues. Because of the blog, I didn’t get stressed that much and I could study lab4 for MAT 194. The reason why I chose this is that I was curious what the web sites provide so I decided to choose this and to access each site. Being a kinesthetic and visual learner, the two strategies worked for me!

For my pre-calculus class, MAT 194, I could finish all assignment by applying the two strategies, Stress Reduction Plan and 10-Minute Vacation. These strategies make me control and manage my stress!

(http://maketheworldyourstage.com/category/stress-reducer/)

Stress Management

Students, in general, get most of their stress from their academic lives. The pressure they get from schoolwork is very overwhelming at times. Exams, papers, quizzes, assignments and such tend to increase stress level. As a student, these are some of the factors of why I am stressed out. My future and parents are also other factors of my increased level of stress. As you can see in the image below, I drew a Stress Diagram. First I listed 5 sources of stress and then put them into a pie chart, showing the distribution of from what sources I get most stressed to sources where I get least stressed out. By drawing thisdiagram, I am able to prioritize the sources of my stress. I can find ways to address these problems.

Another strategy I used was the Stress Reduction Plan. I formed a list of

stressreductionactivities that I have been doing and could do to

cope with stress. There are several methods to deal with stress. My favorite stress reduction activity is swimming. I’ve been swimming at a very young age. Back home when I was stressed out by whatever events that were occurring in my life, I would go to pool and swim. When I swim, I forget about everything. I feel relaxed in the water. Sometimes, I would talk to my friends about my problem. They give me advice to goabout my problems. As a student, I get stress from studying. To manage stress, I turn my academic life to social life and socialize with people. I would meet my friends and do things that keeps my mind off my studies.
It is very important to manage stress. If an individual can’t cope with their stressed life, they will break down mentally. Stress management is good for one’s mental and physical health.