My Plans for Managing Stress in 2012

Stress Management Goals for 2012

2011 was a busy year for me and my family.   Over the past year, we have juggled a child in preschool, three jobs (including one small business), two cats, one blog, two websites, and numerous dance classes.  In the middle of the year, my husband and I thought it would be nice to fix our yard and so we began to landscape it.  We are on hold with that project until spring, but it took much more work than we ever imagined.

The winter holidays hit me hard.  Despite my belief in my superhuman abilities to handle all of these things, I became sick for several weeks.  Life had to slow down at the most demanding time of the year for our family.  Over the past ten days, the university was closed and I had the time to relax, regroup, and spend time with friends and family.  I also ran nearly every errand and did several “spring cleaning” chores that I had put off for quite a while.  In between gift wrapping and decorating, there were doctors’ visits, haircuts, vet visits, closet cleaning, shower curtain washing, and reduction of clutter.

After being off work for so many days I was able to catch up on sleep and visit with friends.  I played with my child, and we attended some local festivities and attractions.  The time off gave me the opportunity to wind down and relax and reflect on things that I would like to do to manage my stress in 2012.

My 2012 Stress Management Goals

As you have read in my previous post, in 2011 I started practicing yoga, an activity that is associated with a lot of health benefits.  I want to take my stress management activities a bit further in 2012.  There are two activities on which I am going to focus in 2012:

• getting more sleep; and
• being more organized

During my winter break from the university, I took some steps to reduce the clutter in my house and get more organized.  I threw or gave away things that I did not need or want.  I want to do more of this in 2012.  Organization is not one of my strengths, but it helped me think more clearly and function better.  My specific goal for organization is to spend 30 minutes each day organizing something–my office, my home, or even my silverware drawer.

After getting enough sleep for 8 days, instead of just two days in a week, I feel more calm and happy.  Instead of staying up all night to write my blog posts or work on a grant, I am going to try to go to sleep earlier.  I hope that it will allow me to be more productive during the day, which will reduce my stress.  In addition, I hope that it will enable me to enjoy myself and reduce the possibility of being sick.  My specific goal for getting more sleep is to go to sleep at least 30 minutes earlier than usual each night.

What are your goals to reduce stress in 2012?