University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Something Great in Mind

First Year Center Hours

Contact information
414-229-5385
www.FYC.uwm.edu
e-mail: fyc@uwm.edu

First Year Center Brochure

First Year Center On-line Resources
Top Ten Stress Relief Skill

Take a break! Remember that your sanity and peace of mind are more important than whatever it is that you are currently stressing out about.
Take some deep, meditative breaths and try to put your problem into perspective. Ask yourself "Will this matter a year from now? Ten years?" If the answer is "no", you are being too hard on yourself.
Do anything other than what you are doing now that is causing you to stress out. You could read a book, call a friend, watch a movie, walk outside...anything. Productivity is impossible when you feel like you're going to snap. It only takes 10 minutes to decrease your stress level!
Don't take on other people's stress and remember that you can only change yourself--not other people.
Recognize what you can change. Accept that there are things you will never change.
Simplify your life as much as possible. Decide which activities are most valuable to you, and omit those that aren't.
Schedule rest periods, and be sure to take them before you get too worn out.
Pace yourself and plan to do the most stressful or hardest task early in the day. This is when you are most resilient to stress and it will get the source of stress out of the way.
Have the courage to be imperfect.
Have a sense of humor about things. Life is a bit of a 3-ring circus. Laugh!