{"id":2822,"date":"2015-03-13T15:25:45","date_gmt":"2015-03-13T22:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/?p=2822"},"modified":"2015-03-17T14:49:31","modified_gmt":"2015-03-17T21:49:31","slug":"feeling-stressed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/feeling-stressed\/","title":{"rendered":"Feeling stressed?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/files\/2014\/01\/UBC_walk.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-medium wp-image-694 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/files\/2014\/01\/UBC_walk-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"UBC_walk\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>Stress Busters II: Mini-break solutions recap<\/h3>\n<p>Recently,\u00a0several ES Vancouver staff members attended a workshop on simple ways to introduce mini-breaks and stress reduction strategies into their daily routine.<\/p>\n<p>We began the session by thinking about things in our daily lives that trigger us to feel stressed, angry or tense. We discovered that it is often the small things in our day that\u00a0bother us the most.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some examples of triggers\u00a0that we shared:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Commuting on\u00a0a crowded\u00a0bus or\u00a0in\u00a0a\u00a0car during rush hour<\/li>\n<li>Waiting in long line ups<\/li>\n<li>Technology issues like a slow computer or no internet signal<\/li>\n<li>Long lines in the SUB<\/li>\n<li>Getting ready and out the door on time<\/li>\n<li>Getting children\u00a0ready to go in the morning<\/li>\n<li>Time pressures during\u00a0evenings and weekends with family<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Next we filled out a self-assessment to identify our perceived level of stress. Exercises like this\u00a0can be done\u00a0periodically and used as a\u00a0benchmark to help check in with yourself before and after practicing relaxation and stress reduction techniques.<\/p>\n<p>To identify ways we are already taking mini-breaks, we took a few minutes to think about activities that recharge us. These are the little ways we already use calm down when we are stressed or need a quick break.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the things that recharge the group were:<!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Going for a quick walk<\/li>\n<li>Checking in with a friend or colleague<\/li>\n<li>Eating\u00a0lunch away from your desk<\/li>\n<li>Watching cute animal videos<\/li>\n<li>Treating yourself (getting nails done, eat a cookie, play a game of Candy Crush, etc.)<\/li>\n<li>Exercising<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In addition to the recharging activities we came up with, the session facilitator, Ronaye Coulson, walked us through a few more ways to us help relax and recharge. Some of these ideas require you to carve out a bit of time from your day, while others can be done\u00a0during things you already do during your day:<!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Morning meditation<\/li>\n<li>Stretching before getting out of bed and at your desk<\/li>\n<li>Yoga<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mindfulness_%28psychology%29\">Mindfulness<\/a> during\u00a0everyday activities (eating, washing hands, etc.)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/files\/2015\/03\/mindful-walking.pdf\">Mindful walking<\/a>\u00a0(printable guide)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Diaphragmatic_breathing\">Belly breathing<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Playing with (or like) a child<\/li>\n<li>Take up a hobby<\/li>\n<li>Do something creative (paint, sew, sing)<\/li>\n<li>Unplug from technology<\/li>\n<li>Keep a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.oprah.com\/spirit\/Oprahs-Gratitude-Journal-Oprah-on-Gratitude\">gratitude journal<\/a>\u00a0and write in it every night<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.anxietybc.com\/sites\/default\/files\/MuscleRelaxation.pdf\">Progressive relaxation<\/a>\u00a0(printable guide)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Tips:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Set a timer on your calendar to prompt you to take a short break: walk around the building, get water, stretch, check in with a colleague<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Find a favourite spot on campus, read a chapter of a book, listen to a podcast, call a family member<\/li>\n<li>Talk to someone. Whether it is about things that stress you out or not, sharing with others helps us connect with something outside of ourselves. This can be the break we need from whatever is triggering\u00a0us.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you are interested in learning more about stress reduction techniques, you may wish to read books written by authors such as Julia James, Herbert Benson and Jon Kabat-Zinn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"post-excerpt\">Stress Busters II: Mini-break solutions recap Recently,\u00a0several ES Vancouver staff members attended a workshop on simple ways to introduce mini-breaks&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1989,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[881221],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-es"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1989"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2822"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2886,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2822\/revisions\/2886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}