Stress Management
A practical stress management worksheet: take stock of what's weighing on you, notice how stress shows up in your body, and build a pick-two plan from four lanes of coping.
Stress is a math problem
Stress is what happens when the demands on you outweigh the resources you have to meet them. That makes it an equation, not a character flaw - and equations can be worked from both sides. You can shrink the demands, grow the resources, or both. Under pressure, most people do neither; they simply push harder, which quietly adds to the demand side.
Four lanes of coping
Coping tools sort into four lanes: reduce the load (drop, shrink, delay, or hand off demands), recharge (sleep, movement, food, and real breaks), reframe (change how you talk to yourself about the load), and reach out (let people in, for help or just for company). Each lane works on a different part of the stress equation. Most people overuse one lane and neglect the other three. The strongest plans borrow from at least two.
Take inventory of your stressors
List everything currently weighing on you, big and small - deadlines, bills, conflicts, health worries, the errand you keep postponing. Getting it all in one place is itself a stress reducer.
How stress shows up in your body
Stress speaks body language first. Check the signs that have been showing up for you lately.
Your current load
Rate the overall load you are carrying right now.
Build your toolkit
Check the moves you would realistically use in the next week. Notice which lanes you gravitate to - and which you avoid.
Pick two: your first move
Choose your first move from the toolkit and make it concrete: what you will do, when, and where.
Pick two: your second move
Choose your second move from a different lane than the first. Two lanes working together beat one lane working overtime.
Reflect and check back
Finish with a quick reflection now, then return after a few days of running your pick-two plan.
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