According to Christine Webber "during the recession of 2008 to 2009, it was claimed that the last century has been the most stressful mankind has encountered. This has to be an exaggeration! For instance , we don't have the black Death to cope with. However life today is profoundly affected by economic problems, unemployment, terrorism, and crime and marriage break-ups. And for many people, work and community are very stressful. So, sometime you are bound to certain amount of stress at times. Not all stress is bad. Scientists now believe that a moderate amount of stress helps you prepare for the challenges you' ll encounter during the day." Relationship plays an important role in your life and you can improve your personal skills dealing with the one you love- family, children, friends, significant others, and even co-workers. From self-esteem to parenting to conflict resolution and anger management- we can all learn to handle things a little better because healthy relationships make for a healthier you. Some tips to deal with stress:- 1. "Control your life. 2. Be aware of your choice ; you always have a choice. This is true for emotions and work. Sometime you need to let your emotions out but still stay in control. 3. Say something positive to yourself as soon as you wake up. 4.Start every day with reflection, spiritual. 5. be organised. 6. Stop worring about but you can't change 7. Treat your body right:- Drink water because it is a good beverage and stay away from alcohol and caffeine because this increase stress level. 8. Eat healthy breakfast. 9. Do exercise daily 10. Get enough sleep , if possible, get into regular sleep habit. 11. listen music 12. Develop a sense of humor - One of the barrirrs to stress reduction is the temptation to take hings seriously. 13. Talk to friends 14. Lay down into your bed for few minute with eye closed." (Craig Burrows MBE, Ben Rubenstein, Lucas Halbert, Lily A).

Doing things that shouldn't be done

Disclaimer: I don't mean the illegal stuff. (Yes I could make another Charlie Sheen joke but I won't.)

I mean the kind of thing like going out on a Wednesday night with friends you haven't seen in forever. Taking that last minute spot on the trip to Whitefish Montana. These are the kind of things that can just change your mood like nothing else. The kinds of things you look back on and have no regrets. Our life's are full of so much structure. That constant structure finds its way to inflicting havoc on the parts we're supposed to enjoy in life. Doing the "bad thing" is sometimes the best thing you can do.

So go on plan that trip for the summer instead of working to pay off student loans.

And in tradition here is another work time wasting YouTube video.

Get A Hobby

We have them, and we all need them. Some people play sports. Others can play musical instruments. Some people still collect coins.(I think, I'm not too sure about this one.) If you can't think of your hobby; you either don't have one, or don't like it to much. Hobbies take our minds of what is stressing us out. They keep our minds interested, and occupied. They're one of the reasons we keep going to the daily grind. They can be our escapes from what ever it is thats stressing us out because life is too short to waste part of it on how much you need to pay on your phone bill.

My advice, join a sports team, lace up some running shoes, grab a paintbrush and enjoy something.

Here's someone's hobby. Or punishment I'll let you decide.(I bet the guy in the water at the end is sweating a bit.)

Music soothes the soul!

My last and personal favorite method for handling stress would have to be music.  I find that no matter what mood I am in, a good song will always help me relax and feel happy! Music is a significant mood changer and reliever of stress, working on many levels at once. Everyone has different tastes in music. We should listen to the music that makes us feel good. Playing music in the background while we are working, seemingly unaware of the music itself, has been found to reduce the stress. 

When we listen to music we enjoy, it changes the state of mind.  We tend to forget our surroundings and are swept away from a sea of sound. It is as if we entered a world free of tension, anxiety and many other petty things of life.

Most of us have to admit... we like to get down to a good tune!

Escapes

My simple way to handle stress, is have an escape (Not the Charlie Sheen kind either). Having something that you thoroughly enjoy, or can use to take your mind of a stressful situation. For example going for a 10 mile, 3-4 hour run can clear your head and maybe give you a new outlook on the stressful situation you didn't have before. YouTube is always a good escape. Using someone Else's humility to take your mind of something works, and make great conversation for a later date. Simply get something that doesn't cause any extra stress, can put your mind in a happy place and can be useful in life(running:yes, YouTube:not so much), but heres a YouTube video to take your mind of thing, because maybe for some running is too much at this point in time.

Meditation

I also heard meditation as being a great way of coping with stress.  I have never done it myself but have always been interested in trying it. Mediation calms the mind and body. It can add energy and focus to one’s lifestyle.  In ten minutes or less a day, it suggests mental and physical improvement can be significantly gained.  

Here is a couple proven Benefits of Mediation:

·         Meditation practice leads to increased strength of self-concept.

·         In a study of students, those practicing meditation showed a significant increase in both math and reading scores.

·         Meditators have also scored high in reducing the abuse of drugs and alcohol.

·         Research indicates that meditation decreases stress, anxiety and depression, and lessens the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

It defiantly sounds like a practice worth giving a try!

Some tips to manage stress

There are some tips have really helped me manage stress. I want to share three of them with my friends.

1, Avoid stressful situation:  we don't have to get ourselves into stressful situation if we don't need to. For example, some people like talking about rumors or gossip at workplace, but later they may find this caused too much trouble and stress to themselves. So my way is to stay away from rumor-makers!

2, Set realistics goal: I used to be very hard to myself and set higher goal for myself all the time, but usually it turned out too stressful to handle. Later I re-adjusted my goals or set different goals at different stage of my life. When I have realistic goals and I can use peaceful mind to think, I find it's easier to deal with stress. It's even easier to achive the goals!

3, Set priorities: always try to make a to-do list. Knowing tasks and puting them in order is important. Write down the things need to be finished and make a timetable. Don't accumulate all the stuffs to a big pile. My experience is that it costs even less time to get everything done by this way, less stress and more productive. When I see other people struggle with doing the same things as I did, I feel more satisfied with myself!