Whether you are in school, working a full time job, experiencing a global pandemic or just living your life in general, you might feel stressed! Stress is a global problem. I’m not entirely sure if that is a good or bad thing, but the way I see it is at least you are not alone!

The Global Organization for Stress’ statistics about stress were stressful to look at, so I won’t share those. Instead, I wanted to share methods I found online to try coping with your stress and personal examples of how to incorporate these methods into your life.

Here are three tips:

Identify What is Stressing You Out

I am one of those people who stresses a lot about school. I want good grades and I want to stay on top of my work. To do that I have a written planner that I fill out towards the end of the month, to prepare for the following month. Then week by week I have checklists. It makes me feel like every small task is rewarding and it declutters my mind!

Talk to People

My friend group and I try to group facetime every Thursday night. Some weeks we aren’t able to because of other obligations, which is also okay! I love to talk to people and I think it’s super important to just talk about life or what’s stressing you out. I call my parents almost everyday to talk about my day and hear about theirs. Everyone is busy and that’s fine, but just scheduling some time to talk to your friends about whatever for maybe 30 minutes a week is not too much to ask for!

Look at the Bigger Picture (It doesn’t have to be too big.)

My bigger picture is often the weekend. Sometimes we think of the big picture as being happily married, rich and famous. To that I say, maybe not today. Just think, if I can get my stuff done, I can watch a comedy special on Netflix or partake in a Zoom trivia party on Saturday. Set short and long term goals for yourself, but also allow yourself to celebrate the small wins!

I am not a licensed therapist, professional or expert in probably anything, but I am still hoping this helped!