bythemethod.com blog

To manage stress you need to be aware of when it hurts. Just like when you visit a doctor and they find somewhere sensitive to press and they ask you if it hurts. We can’t press anywhere for stress but we can take a note of when it is bothering us.

What is happening now? Keep a happiness diary.

Every day this week at breakfast, at lunch (you do eat lunch don’t you?) and at dinner/supper take a moment to think about how happy you are on a scale of 1 to 10 – where 1 is depressed and 10 is walking on air. Then write it down.

We concentrate on happiness because I don’t want you to get more miserable about your stress.

Try to keep this diary every day for at least two weeks so you can see the patterns.

You must look for the patterns

After a while you might start to see a pattern or get a feeling for times of the day that are better than others.

Now try to work out why that would be. What is it that is making you happier at some times than others?

Find ways of dealing with the low spots

There are no golden soludtions I’m afraid. You need to work out your own ways of being happy and lessed stress.

If you find you are never happy then you need to think about why that might be true and perhaps go back to thinking about what makes you happy. Here are a few suggestions: being with friends; succeeding at work; being with your family; holidays; walking; reading; watching a film etc.

What things do you do to help you with your stress?