we always did feel the same,

How do I Handle Stress

hermionejg:

edwardspoonhands:

Just got this question:

Hank, how do you deal with the stress of having too many things on your plate? because i am in-charge of 3 organizations in school and one outside of school plus AP classes.

There’s three types of stress, really:

1. Stress that comes from stuff I can take care of and haven’t taken care of yet
2. Stress that’s coming from something that I literally can’t take care of
3. Non-specific stress that’s coming from lots of different places and I can’t put my finger on what’s bugging me.

So here’s my procedure:

First, think very hard about where the stress is coming from. If I can find a specific source, and it’s something I can actually take care of…I TAKE CARE OF IT IMMEDIATELY.

Sometimes I find that I’ll have this thing sitting on my shoulders and I’ll literally be avoiding it because it’s scary, but not doing it is SO MUCH WORSE. Once I just do it I feel 1000 times better. I won’t even know it was that thing! It’ll take like a significant amount of thinking for me to locate the source sometimes….weird, huh?

Second, if I can’t find the source (which I hate) or it’s something I can’t handle at the moment (like taking a test or running a conference) here’s what I do:

I try to think “what’s the worst that will happen if I screw this up….the absolute WORST thing.” And it’s never all that bad, y’know. It’s not like I’m defusing bombs or doing open heart surgery. 

And that helps…it doesn’t make it go away, but it helps.

Yeah but I think you also have to be honest with yourself about how much you invite the stress in. I certainly have a magnetic attraction to stress and this was even more the case in secondary school when I was in charge of all sorts of different things. To those who like to be in control, to be responsible, or to just make things you like/think are important happen I feel like you almost have to accept that stress will be a part of that and then, very quickly, you can become a bit addicted to stress.

It’s not even the sensation of being busy, it’s the sensation of being absolutely fucking rushed off your feet that is like a drug. Maybe that’s just me? I’m certainly a control freak and so my #1 bit of advice would be to make sure you have a good team and delegate. You can always take things back onto your plate if you’re not happy with the way other people are doing them, but don’t make “stressed” your default state of mind, or at least have good people around you who’ll pick up a task or two if you ask for their help.

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