Mental Health: Putting Things Into Perspective

Many times when we sit down to accomplish our to-do list we don't take the additional minute to really prioritize everything we have to do. Because of this, we spend unnecessary time worrying about things we have no control over. With some simple tricks we can learn to tackle our to-do list easier and with a lot less stress!

• For one whole minute write down anything and everything that stresses you out (i.e. people, homework, school, work, etc.)
• Once you have finished writing take another whole minute to review everything you have written.
• Now, take another full minute to cross off everything you have no control over--whether it's because it's completely out of your hands (i.e. the weather) or because it's on someone else
• Reivew your list again--what changed??

After running through this exercise ask yourself the following questions:

1. How did it feel to get everything down on paper for that first minute?

-Anxiety, release, stress, worry, etc

2. How did it feel to review everything that stresses you out?

- Did you write things down that you did not know were stressors?

4. When you crossed off things that you did not have control over, what types of things were left?

-Did this help to put things into perspective?

-Did it help you to realize that you may have been spending unnecessary time worrying about things you have no control over?

-Did it help to focus your thoughts on things you CAN control?