Managing stress

By Debbie Grove and Teresa Howell, UBC students

Managing stress and improving daily living don’t have to be daunting tasks. In fact, taking small steps can make a big difference in your life. You can start with becoming more resilient.

What is resiliency?

Resiliency is the ability to bounce back from those daily bumps in the road and the capacity to recognize your own strengths, resources and build coping strategies. It is also about increasing your understanding of how to transfer your strengths, skills and capabilities to different life situations.

Sometimes those bumps in the road wear down our resilience and throw us off course. But we can bounce back. In fact, with a better understanding of resiliency and ways to work it into daily life, we manage and respond to life’s bumps more effectively. Here are a few ways to help recognize, implement and main­tain resiliency.

1. 1. Get to know yourself
      • Identify your key areas of strength (e.g., social, emotional, cognitive, physical, spiritual).
      • Visualize an image, metaphor, or symbol that characterizes you.
      • Identify hobbies or interests.
      • Think of a past challenge and how you resolved it.
      • Identify one or two key goals.
      • Recognize the signs of stress that tend to wear down your resiliency.
   2. Revisit past successes

Think of a time when you encountered a problem. What did you do about it? Ask yourself what you learned about yourself then, and how you can apply it to your current situation. Examples of past strategies might include having a positive attitude, using humour, asking for help, or better planning.

1. Stay focused

It can be challenging for students to focus on core goals when there is so much to think about and do. To stay focused, prioritize your goals, remind yourself why they’re impor­tant and set new goals if current ones are not concrete.