Stress...

[mishy120]

I get really anxious and stressed at school or places like that or when im nervous. Do you have any excercises or anything like that to help me?
Thanks!!!

[Jaclyn]

Hi mishy120.

Many people can relate to what you posted. Hopefully other teens will read your post and answer you back so that you can realize what a common issue anxiety is.


One thing that can work when your feeling anxious is to recognize what your feeling and to say "I know that I am anxious, I have felt this way before and I know that this feeling doesn't last." Also tell yourself that "nothing bad will happen from anxiety." You may start to notice physical symptoms (stomach aches, heart racing etc.) and then you may focus on that which may create more anxiety. You have to take the control over the anxiety and keep reasuring yourself that you can relax. Take deep breaths and focus on your breathing rather then on the anxiety itself. Visualize yourself in a calming place (whereever that may be for you..a beach, your bedroom, etc.) . Once you have calmed down, ask yourself "what is the worst thing that could happen." And then "how likely is it that that would happen." You may begin to see that sometimes we are most anxious over anxiety itself.

Have you ever thought to go see a therapist to gain tools on how to help yourself identify your triggers and then learn to relax? We have referrals if you would like.

Please continue to share here. You are contributing very valuable things.

[mishy120]

Hi Jaclyn,
Thanks for the advice, i spoke to some people and they told me a good way to relax is to visualize and i think that might work! If you have any other advice for me i could use it!
Thankssss!

[Jaclyn]

Hi mishy120,

I'm glad that you are willing to try visualizations. They can be evry helpful.

I have also found that the anxiety and phobia workbook can be a good ressource. You can get it at chapters.

What strategies have you been using until now to deal with the anxiety?

[Daniel]

Hi Mishy,

Stress is definitely something that affects everyone, in some way or another. Everyone needs to find their own strategy for handling it that works for them. Sometimes I find that a particular activity or experience works for me - for example, a song that every time I hear it I kind of lose myself and forget everything else. Some people do yoga or meditation.

In a psych class I once took the prof talked about a few methods for getting rid of stress/tension. I remember two of them. One was progressive relaxation, where you slowly tense every muscle in your body, starting with your eyebrows and facial muscles and working downward, holding it for 10 seconds, and letting it go. In the end your whole body feels relaxed and refreshed, as you are releasing tension from muscles that you didn't even realize were tensed. The other technique I remember is to set a "stop" word/image for yourself, that you will think of every time you feel overwhelmed. This could be a visual representation of the word stop, or anything else that works for you. Train yourself so that everytime you put that image in your head you put all other thoughts on hold and just take a step back and find yourself.

Hope that helps. If anyone else knows any other techniques for handling stress, please post them here! I'm sure a lot of people would find them useful.

Cheers,
D

[elanerajk70]

hmmm...i agree with the advices provided...moreso, just dont forget to pray..thats my best way to relieve stresses..
lifting up everything to the one up there would be an act of faith.gb

[Shira]

Hi Mishy,

I thought I could maybe help you out a little bit. Firstly, it is soo important to know and understand that stress and anxiety is extremely normal. Everybody at one point or another in their lives feel stress or anxiety. You have to try different techniques in order to find a way to cope with stress and anxiety that works for you.
I used to have very hight levels of anxiety and what helped me was that I had to work my way backwards to try and figure out what it was that made me feel this way. Once I understood what it was that stressed me out, I was able to prevent these feelings from happening again. An example of this, was that I used leave my studying for the very last minute and when I would go into class for my test I would get so stressed I was not able to focus on the test. This resulted in bad marks which made me feel even more anxiety. Once I realized what I was doing, I began to prepare myself more in advance for my tests so that I wouldn't get myself worked up and stressed over school.

Thought this could maybe help you out..
Keep us posted! so if these don't work we can try to think of other ways to deal with your stress and anxiety.
xoxx
Shira

[Jaclyn]

Hi Mishy-

In re-reading our posts, I am realizing that we haven't talked about the tools and strategies that you have already been using to deal with the anxiety.

I'm curious to know what anxiety feels like for you?

We know that a lot of people experience anxiety. Can anybody else relate to what Mishy is feeling?

[Jennys]

Hi Mishy,

I hope that you have been able to find some ways of dealing with your stress because I know that it is not always easy.I am definitely someone who has experience with stress and it was especially bad in high school. It is very normal to feel stressed in places like school where you are expected to do so much. I have learned that one way to help is time management. I have a tendancy to become very overwhelmed when i have too many things to do, which results in stress. To help with this, i have found it helpful to literally write out a schedule for the week and make a list for each day with the tasks that have to be completed. When it is layed out in front of me like that, it seems a lot more manageable and i take it one task at a time, when i am done one thing i cross it out and move on to the next one. This can help you finish your homework in less time, giving you more time to relax. You just have to take a minute to relax when you start to feel nervous or anxious and as Jaclyn mentionned ask yourself what is the worst that can happen, because we often convince ourselves that something is much worse than it really is. I hope this helps:)

Jenny

[Laura]

Great advice Jenny! Mishy I'm telling you what she says works!
Me and stress are best friends. The only way I can cope is by making a plan. If I plan my schedule, what to study when, when to write and finish assignments, and all those tasks fit into a schedule- you are ensured that all will get done if you just stick to it!
Anyone else have input? How else can you cope with stress?