There is a lot of stress going around. Some of the anxiety is caused by things like “the new normal” or politics. Meanwhile, stress sources such as our workload and our performance in school and at work are more personal. Luckily, there are some ways we can alleviate stress and its symptoms. When the causes of stress are more personal, we might be able to do something about the sources themselves, though that isn’t always easy either. Still, decreased stress and improved happiness will improve our mood and performance. So if you are prone to worrying about your performance (studies or work), stress management, time management and control of negative thoughts are something you should save time for. Here are some tips.
Stressed? Breathe and relax…
There are physical ways to manage stress and improve wellbeing (besides a nutritious diet and a good night’s sleep, which you really should strive for). In bouts of immediate, overwhelming stress or panic attacks, a peaceful environment, focusing on an object, and breathing techniques can help. Meanwhile, relaxation techniques such as deep breathing are not an immediate fix for stress but more of a way to build up resistance and to avoid the bout of stress to begin with. Think of how a sleeping baby, a dog or a cat breathes – you’ll likely see both their chest and belly raising and falling, whereas adults have trained themselves to always keep their belly a bit ticked in. However, belly breathing is much more effective for breathing slowly than breathing with the chest, because your lungs are worked by the big diaphragm muscle below the lungs. In the long run, the so-called belly breathing or diaphragmatic breathing practice has been noted to improve mood and attention span as well as lower cortisol, an indicator of stress! So thinking about the relaxed breathing of a baby or your pet, sit or lie down comfortably, place your hands on your belly and breathe slowly, feeling your belly inflate under your hands. There are plenty of video or audio guides (such as this one) that you can follow to practice your breathing when you have 10 minutes to spare for your wellbeing.
Too many balls in the air? Prioritize what you need right now
Are you stressed or unhappy because of how busy you are? First off, take a look at your To Do list, including mental notes. You might be juggling studies, work, filial duties and other family issues, hobbies or extra-curricular activities, friends… Which one of those is the most important to you? Which of those things makes you happy? Even if your day is full of work, sweat and tears, make room for some R&R, even if only 15 minutes. The R&R for happiness should not be in the form of some mindless social media scrolling or retail therapy – and definitely not in the form of alcohol or other intoxicants – but through something that actually makes you happy. Perhaps a hobby that you haven’t had time for in ages? The little things in life help make life more meaningful. At this moment, you might have an urgent deadline you are working to, but deep-down you might know that you rarely get that much more time even after the deadlines. Ask yourself what you would do more of in your life, if every day had one extra hour – would you use the extra time to study? To work on your skills? To sleep more? To hang out with friends? To prioritize important things in the long-term, ask yourself what kind of life you want to look back at when you are old. Will getting a 3 instead of a 5 in that one course be among your life’s regrets, or will you look at your degree as a holistic accomplishment? Also practice saying “no” to more than you can handle.
Your own worst critic? Recognize that your thoughts are only thoughts
Do your work or your meditation get distracted by negative thoughts? Bottling or burying negative thoughts is harmful. If your source of stress is performance or impostor syndrome, there is likely some negative thought that keeps reappearing in your mind even after you’ve tried your best to forget about it. One way of being more mindful of one’s own thoughts is to actually recognize the thoughts before letting them go. You can visualise the thoughts as leaves in a stream that drift away, taking the thoughts with them. To stop your thoughts from defining who you are, you can visualise the negative inner critic part of your mind as a mean but incompetent personal advisor: you hear what they say, you thank them for their input, but you do not heed to them. The fact that your mind tells you mean things does not mean they are true. “I am stupid”, “I am ugly” or “I will never succeed” are not truths but only thoughts. Recognize them as such: “I notice that I am (once again) thinking that I am too stupid to study this course/this degree/at this university.” It may be comforting that everyone, including the smart people, have thoughts like that from time to time.
Other resources
I hope that these tips will help you worry less and maybe improve your performance through better time management, less stress, and less distractive thoughts. Do put them to practice, though, as reading through the steps is not enough.
For more mindfulness lessons online in Finnish, you can try out the courses at Headsted.fi in partnership with the Finnish Student Health Service YTHS. Some of the tips in this article are adapted from Headsted’s Työstä Stressiä course. For lessons in English, you can have a look at the Mindful Tools for Stress Management online course at Aalto University, available also for non-students.
For student wellbeing, Nyyti Ry offers tips and tools as well as chat rooms and groups to help with mental wellbeing, whether relating to stress or healthy lifestyle. A lot of the material is in Finnish, English and Swedish.
For any stress relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in particular, the US based Virusanxiety is devoted to tips for dealing with general anxiety, the effects of isolation and worries over finances.
For help with mental health, including help for dealing with self-destructive thoughts, the crisis helpline in Finland is available in Finnish, English, Arabic and Swedish, and in other languages through an interpreter. See the website also for other ways to get help for mental health.