A Journal Entry About Stress
How would you define modern restlessness? Is it the fatigue from opening your social media and seeing the next malevolent action? Perhaps it's more of a 21st century problem, where we have to acknowledge the role globalization & empathy play in our exhaustion. Our phones strain our eyes. Our television harms every day-to-day livelihood. And in an age where we can't trust our mainstream media, where does that leave us?
Let's talk about stress.
Let's talk about stress.
I took this picture on my way to my class on Korean history. Yellow is a good color.
Wikipedia, our unofficial hero, mentions that stress is 'a body's method to reacting to challenge'. Often enough there's a negative connotation to the concept, despite it being a biological process that reminds us to accomplish the task at hand. We see it that way because of emotional turbulence--how can you adapt to a situation, after all, if you can't help but worry over a Friday exam?
Sunday, during tutoring, I had hoped to be able to channel restless legs into twiddling thumbs. It works once you're used to it, but to the beginner it seems a tidbit hopeless. Besides, moving your legs helps stretch, right? Sure, but the need to move them will distract you. And if you keep moving it's harder to concentrate to study and if you can't study then you feel unprepared for the exam--the little things snowball into a stress-induced monster all at once. This happens around every large event, such as an exam, or a billing statement from college,
When we're stressed we feel anxious, and when we're anxious we're stressed. It is the worst cycle of repetition, one that you have to acknowledge.
If you're like me you:
Sunday, during tutoring, I had hoped to be able to channel restless legs into twiddling thumbs. It works once you're used to it, but to the beginner it seems a tidbit hopeless. Besides, moving your legs helps stretch, right? Sure, but the need to move them will distract you. And if you keep moving it's harder to concentrate to study and if you can't study then you feel unprepared for the exam--the little things snowball into a stress-induced monster all at once. This happens around every large event, such as an exam, or a billing statement from college,
When we're stressed we feel anxious, and when we're anxious we're stressed. It is the worst cycle of repetition, one that you have to acknowledge.
If you're like me you:
- feel varying amounts of stress at any given time
- take the opportunity to plan out your events/deadlines but get anxious when there's a space for inactivity
- find it necessary to be busy all the time
So we should be aware, right? I want to be able to self-reflect. And I'm still trying to figure out what it's like to measure the world in degrees of constant activity.
For now, the small things matter to me. Checking things off a list, making sure I'm hydrated, trying to avoid letting my various duties pile up so that I don't overthink it--small things that are worth more in the end. I've lost my stress ball, one that's modeled after Earth, and I miss it dearly. Although I have a garbage truck-themed stress ball, it just isn't the same. You know how it is with possessions--we play favorites and we use them as security blankets. And like everything else, we should be acknowledging the impact these things have on our lives.
My darling plant in Plant Nanny's helping to remind me to drink water. Last year I was often in the habit of drinking water regularly, and since then I've fallen out of it. Now I'm gradually heading back on track, and with cute virtual plants to help.
And to pair with that, my planner streamlines my thoughts into a series of to-do lists and overall event planning. At times I fill idle time with journaling, or with scanning social media, or just breathing. Recently I've noticed breathing should be more recognized. It's part of mindfulness, which I want to practice on more this year. Maybe I'll journal about that someday.
A friend of mine once joked about doing homework early as a method of self-care. And it really is. Do your work constantly, try not to let it pile up--this is more difficult with depression and other mental illnesses, but even one page of reading will help you. You'll feel like you're doing something, even if you aren't fully there yet; it takes one step to start another, and that's the sort of thing we're working for.
To battle modern restlessness we have to encourage self-care and the healthy coping of stress. Sometimes that does mean taking a break from Twitter. Sometimes that does mean staring into the distance and remembering to breath. Sometimes it's typing up notes from class so you'll be able to define a term for midterm studying later, and sometimes it's arranging plans to hang out with a friend so that you can have a buddy to bounce ideas & concerns with.
Hopefully I'll find my stress ball again! Until then, I'll keep hoping you find ways to counter your stress, too.
Yours Sincerely,
Dianne
