In a time like this, I think this is an excellent time to continue a series of how to keep up your productivity when you have difficult emotions. My last post was about anger and what productive alternatives could be. I can speak personally about stress as well. I have had found myself in truly stressful situations, whereas other times I have manufactured the stress by making something a much bigger deal than it actually was. We all fall into this trap. I have commented on stress before and stress can kill our productivity. This is definitely the case when we stress more than we should. So when you find yourself getting stressed consider the following.
Stop what you are doing and do something else. It is a good time to get your mind off of whatever is causing you stress. Even if it's something that you need to think about, just getting your mind off of it from time to time will do you good.
Do something that calms you down. Whatever you do to unplug for a bit and get your mind off of something, you will need to do this periodically to keep yourself calm. This will help you when you come back to the activity or thought that stresses you out.
Keep active. If your stress is being cause by an overactive mind, then keeping busy and active will help you keep your mind off of it. However, if you are like me, many times I was stressed because I was too busy and active. Even so, being active with the right things will give you a sense of purpose and less time to stress.
Have fun. Even the situations in life that aren't fun can be made fun to an extent. Set a goal or target for yourself and give yourself something to reach for. While life should be taken seriously, there should be enough fun also. There needs to be a balance to maximize productivity. That is why they say "work hard and play hard."
I hope this helps in these stressful times. I know this is advise I can use myself from time to time. It is much more difficult when you are under stress to realize this, but it is at those time when it's the most important. Thanks for reading and I hope you don't have too stressful of a week.