Stress Management
Stress can be a great motivator that causes me to accomplish tasks. However, introspection has led me to the conclusion that I usually respond badly to stress and that I have very poor stress management techniques. This comes somewhat as a surrpise, because I tend to think of myself as a mostly calm and collected individual. I now believe this calm under fire to be mostly a facade. For example, I now believe that my episode of insomnia leading up to the 2005 FIRST Robotics Competition Championship is an indication of my unhealthy response to stress.
Insomnia alone is not to bad. However, when stressed, I find that I often fall into a rut and spend vast amounts of time going down paths that lead nowhere. The two most common ruts seem to be compulsive Counter-Strike playing and mindless internet surfing through online forums, news, porn, humor sites, and other dubiously useful information. These episodes are not short-lived either. I have spent hours in these ruts, going nowhere, but going there quickly.
I believe that it would be highly beneficial to me to retrain myself so that my response to stress is an immediate and direct response to the stressor, or at the very least, a healthy coping technique such as running, as opposed to my current techniques which make me feel bad about myself and get nothing useful done. If only self-mastery were a pill I could swallow. Instead, it is a process that only the dedicated few can truly harness.
Here’s to not giving up.
June 1st, 2005 at 02:43:21 pm
“Got to pray just to make it today”
sorry about that really retro lyric but for many people a nice little time-out, meditation, talking to oneself and/or Higher Power (and no, that’s not the government ;-) has a nice side benefit of relieving stress. Exercise also helps as you wisely noted. Reading uplifting books is also a stress reliever. And just hanging out with good friends. All are good ways of relieving stress. Programming and designing can also put one into a meditative mode, however if one tends to associate these with stress, they may not be quite as stress relieving. Maybe a good walk might be in order. Wishing you the best.