Showing posts with label Getting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Getting. Show all posts

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Getting Some Anxiety And Stress Relief

Everyone is seeking some form of anxiety and stress relief. Hopefully you haven't resorted to self-medication with alcohol. Rather than applying a balm to the sore of stress, why not find a way to stop the stress from getting out of hand in the first place. I'll take preventative medicine over reactive medicine any day.

One effective approach to getting anxiety and stress relief is to address the thinking in your mind that is causing the stress. The whole field of cognitive psychology is devoted to this approach. So, one type of faulty thinking that can lead to stress, anxiety and depression is all-or-nothing thinking.

What is all-or-nothing thinking? It goes like this: Someone who suffers from this mistaken form of thought always looks at things in black and white, good or bad, right or wrong, etc. If you partake in this kind of analysis of your life then you are setting yourself up for a lot of grief. Now, correcting this thinking may not happen overnight. But if you become mindful of your all-or-nothing thinking then you can correct it little by little and get the anxiety and stress relief you are seeking.

Here is an example of this all-or-nothing thinking. Let's say that your stress is the result of you not being able to finish all the tasks on your to-do list. I am often guilty of this. I tend to make myself way too busy because there is so much that I want to do. I know I've pushed myself too far when I start to get that knot in my throat and my anxiety level increases. This happened just recently. In order to get the anxiety and stress relief I needed, I had to modify my thinking.

Instead of either succeeding or failing at my to-do list for any given day, I had to be ok with not completing everything on the list. But, that didn't work so well. I didn't like seeing things left undone. That was the all-or-nothing thinking again. So, then I just made the to-do list smaller and that worked almost immediately. In fact, that night when I decided that I couldn't do everything I wanted to do and had to settle for less, I could feel the knot in my throat shrivel up and disappear into calm. This is a good example of great anxiety and stress relief by challenging faulty thinking. This is just one example of anxiety and stress relief by challenging all-or-nothing thinking. Another example could involve you demanding that you get an A on a test. Getting a B isn't good enough. Again, you are setting yourself up for a lot of grief if you think this way. Bring some flexibility into your life and get the stress and anxiety relief you need.

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Sunday, September 4, 2011

ADD: Getting Through College With The Least Stress


ADD, ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder







Article Body:



Many people with ADD find it very difficult to stick to a four-year program at college and to get their degrees. College can be hard for anyone when there are 5 papers due all on the same day. But you have the added handicap of being easily bored and quickly finding distraction. So, though it's no cakewalk for any college student, getting your degree can be particularly hard when you have ADD.





How can that be helped?





Find a school that will work with you and your ADD. Most colleges require 15 credits to be classified as a full-time student, but most will also allow you to take fewer credits, though you'll only be classified as part-time. If this isn't a tax issue for you or your parents, being a part-time student with fewer classes to worry about may be a solution for you.





Another solution would be to take fewer of the required courses that you find it hard to deal with. Maybe take one of those per semester, and fill your schedule with classes that you do like. For instance, what if you absolutely, positively have to take Algebra and Trig during your first semester, and find it very difficult to deal with math? One solution would be to take creative writing, art history, and psychology 101 or any other low-level class, or whatever classes appeal to you, as asides. When you're studying, be sure to give yourself a half hour of math (if you can concentrate that long), a half hour of something you like to do, and then, back to math of another half hour. Or, if your attention span is only 15 minutes, start with math, move to creative writing for 15 minutes, then art history for 15 minutes, and psychology 101 can make up the rest of your hour. Just keep doing this for as many hours as you need to really get cranking with math.





Or, you'll have to find a more flexible college. Some will allow you to design your own major, which is ideal for people with ADD. That way, you'll be concentrating on subjects that you know you can enjoy and really put your hyperfocus into gear and make it work for you.





The whole thing should be about finding a college that's right for you. If you're in school now and having a terrible time at it, transfer to a school that understands your ADD. That comes even before you look for the money because there are always scholarships that you can employ. Yet, if you don't find the right school, you may end up only hoping for a degree instead of really earning one.



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