You know what it’s like. You’re stressed, with too much to do. Piles are everywhere! You’re behind on email and dealing with anxiety. You have projects to finish, deadlines to meet and pressures from important people at work to go a little faster and work a little longer. In your personal realm there are chores, bills, family, social gatherings and all the wonderful, time consuming obligations of living a full life. So you stack up the hours, skimp on sleep, and find yourself feeling irritable.

Stress at home and managing frustration at work seem to be everywhere. Can you find some relief from dealing with stress? Yes, if you remember to Manage Yourself First.

Consider these tips for coping with anxiety and managing stress when you have too much to do:

• Pare down your lists. Mark priorities and keep them at the top. Examine the rest of your list. Delegate where you can. If there are tasks that are not crucial, remove them. If there are routine tasks performed daily or weekly, consider doing them less often.
• Be realistic about what you can accomplish in an hour or a day, assuming there will be interruptions. A big part of our daily stress is trying to accomplish too much and then becoming upset with ourselves for not succeeding. Be kind to yourself. Stop setting yourself up for frustrations at work and learn the life skills of how to deal with stress. Forgive yourself for what you do not accomplish.
• Create balance. Take regular breaks. Work on your project for 50 minutes and take a 10 minute break to walk around the block, read the paper or watch a movie. Notice how such a simple habit can lower your feelings of stress and help manage anxiety.

Contact Dr. Ruth Tallakson to schedule a stress management counseling session at 651.647.1001.