It isn’t as simple as making a list. A list of the things you want to accomplish, whether it’s for the day or to be completed over a lifetime. That’s because, while list making is certainly a good way to deal with some types of stress, there are other types of stress that planning won’t help.

For example, sometimes stress is anxiousness. Waiting. Knowing that there’s something big coming up, and every time you think about it your stomach tightens and you feel pressure in the back of your throat. When I experience this type of stress, I’ve found that the best way to help deal with it is distraction. To avoid thinking about it as much as possible until the stress causing event arrives. That’s because the thing that’s being expected and causing stress is, most likely, inevitable. Therefore, to dwell upon it isn’t going to make the situation any better. So instead of imagining over and over what you think it might be like, whether it’s a job interview or starting a new school, try finding distractions that will give you joy. Watch a new show, take pictures outside, spend time with friends. To cure the anxiousness of waiting, these distractions do more than just distract. They also give you more of your life back, and ease the worrying of something that has yet to arrive.

Other times, stress occurs because there have been a lot of negative things happening over and over. “When it rains it pours” is more than a common phrase. It’s the truth sometimes, and when it happens, it can hurt. The best way I deal with the clutter of life is to write about it. If you know me well, you know that I’ve been keeping journals since I was in 8^th grade. These journals capture so much of my life, both the good and the bad, and the things I would otherwise have forgotten. Sometimes I go for about a month without writing, and other times I can hardly go a week. But if my life starts to rain and pour, venting in my journal is a must. This may at first seem counterintuitive. Won’t writing it all out make me just as upset as when whatever it was happened? Well, yes. And no. If I write when I’m sad or angry, it does hurt all over again. But at the end of it, I feel refreshed. I feel like it’s a tangible way to get out all of the bad things that may have happened, and that moving forward is easier to do. I’d highly recommend writing in this way to anyone, because accepting that bad times happen, acknowledging their existence, and looking forward to good things to come can really take a load off of the mind.

Finally, I’d like to mention the stress of relationships. I personally struggle with finding my way out of this one. The reason why is because the stress of having a relationship with someone isn’t only one person’s fault. Any feelings of conflict from one person can just keep bashing against the other, a cycle that can be difficult to break. To end it, there are really only two paths to take. Either the path away from that person, or the path that allows both people to walk side by side again. But if it’s somebody you can’t imagine your life without, then the fight to walk beside them again, however difficult a thing to accomplish, is a must. I think that even when somebody you love seems to be blocking your relationship, there’s knowledge that it’s only temporary. Holding onto the fact that both people can move forward together, no matter how long it may take, is the knowledge that may ease your mind from the overall struggle.

These aren’t the only ways to deal with stress, and certainly not the only types of stress. But I do think they’re worth mentioning, because they don’t get looked at as common stress very often. That said, I hope that you may be able to make use of some of these methods for fighting stress, so that you, too, may find the power to live life and move forward.