I'm Stressed.

We’re in Week 12 of online teaching, there are mid-terms to grade, new lessons to plan, finals to prepare for, speech competition practices are vamping up, and why are there so many texts and emails to answer?!

Oh, and did I mention I’m completing my Master’s thesis?

There are too many things to do, the lists never end, my phone never stops ringing, and it’s just making me want to veg out on the couch and watch the Office for the ninth time. And while I believe Michael Scott is the cure for all of life’s ailments, there has to be a better way to deal with this, right?

 Here’s a list of 5 things that help me get my mind straight when life is crazy:

1) Braindump

            I dump everything I need to do on a piece of paper to get it out of my mind. Sometimes I need a solid list to get me centered and focused, and sometimes I need to dump everything I’m thinking in a journal to clear my mind of all the non-work-related things that might be bogging me down.

2) Suffer for 15 minutes

            I’m a procrastinator, and the hardest part of starting any project is just starting it. Gretchen Rubin calls “Suffer for 15 minutes.” She sets a timer for 15 minutes, and tells herself she will only work on that nasty task for 15 minute. Anyone can do anything for 15 minutes, right? Once I get started, I usually find it’s not that bad, and I can keep going. If it is that bad, I give myself a break or change tasks before coming back to another 15 minutes.

3) Clean 

            My mood and my concentration are heavily influenced by my environment. And vice versa. If I feel stressed, you can guarantee, my house is not spotless. Taking a few minutes to clear off surfaces (especially around my desk) makes me feel like a weight has been lifted. And when I feel unmotivated or overwhelmed, taking a break for a few minutes to clean helps get me back on track. It takes almost zero brain power to clean, but seeing such tangible results makes me feel ready to tackle the next task on my to-do list.

4) Have fun

            Doing something fun when I’m stressed goes against every grain of my being. But I’ve found it’s one of the most effective ways to stay productive. I first started doing this in college, when my perfectionist self roomed with a carefree “let’s just have fun” kind of person. Every Saturday morning, I would wake up early and hit the books at the library. I could study as much as I wanted – until 12:00. Then, my roommate would pull me away from the library, and we would have fun off campus. For the rest of the day, there was no talk of studying or assignments. We just had fun. When Sunday came around, I was so much more motivated to get things done. Your brain needs a break. Take one.

            Read a book. Watch a TV show. Call a friend. Go for a run. Grab some ice cream. Watch a YouTube video. Get a cup of tea. Do whatever is fun to do you and let yourself have a break. You’ll be that much more productive when you go back. 

 5) Imagine the happy things

            When you’re staring at a giant to-do list, it’s hard to remember why you’re doing it. It just feels like endless, mindless, pointless tasks sometimes. So I try to imagine the happy things. I imagine my students saying, “This was such a useful lesson! I learned so much!” as I make lesson plans. I imagine how much my students are going to enjoy the fun video I chose. I imagine how encouraged my students will feel when they see positive feedback on their homework. I imagine how excited they will be to see a good score on their exams when I’m grading them. It’s small, but it puts things into perspective, and it’s hard to be stressed when you feel so happy.

I hope these helped! Even writing all these out have helped me feel calmer about the endless to-do list sitting on my desk. We’ve all made it through so much of this online teaching—we can do it!