This year has been wonderful to me overall, with lots of pleasant days and hardly any unpleasant ones. When I have had rough days or even just stressful moments during otherwise good days, I’ve used a few solid life hacks to get through them. The following are things I’ve learned from Stoic philosophy and Eastern philosophy. They’ve helped me a lot and I hope they also help you when you need them.
- Doing what I can and focusing on one particular task at a time (even if it’s a small task) before moving on to the next one. When I’m feeling overwhelmed, I try to calm myself enough to find something to do that will lighten my burden and put me into a better situation. That also helps me avoid becoming paralyzed by stress and unable to do anything. Similarly, focusing on one task at a time and finishing it before moving on to the next one is much less stressful than thinking about everything I have to do at one time. I don’t have to do everything in one fell swoop and reminding myself to keep things simple, do what I can, and work on one thing at a time helps me stay sane even on the busiest days.
- Focusing on what I can control instead of what I can’t. I may not be able to control what happens at my job, on the road, or in many other situations in my life, but I can control how I prepare for them and I how I respond to them. I’ve found that coming up with plans to handle busy and potentially stressful times reduces my stress and helps me better handle whatever situation I’m in. I also try to remind myself that I am perfectly capable of coming up with solutions to whatever problems I’m facing once I settle down enough to think clearly, so a difficult moment doesn’t have to bring down my whole day. Having a plan and looking for solutions works out much better than trying to figure out everything as I go and acting as if there’s no way to turn a bad situation into a good one.
- Giving myself some challenges to overcome on easy days and allowing myself to rest on rough days. Life isn’t one-note, which is a relief because it would be incredibly boring and predictable if that were the case. That uncertainty can make things tricky but I’ve found a great way to adjust to it. If my day looks to be pretty easy, then I can challenge myself by doing a hard workout at the gym, spending more time practicing with my unicycle, or taking a cold shower. Those physical challenges provide some nice contrast to the easiness and allow me to better handle the hard times, feel accomplished on simple days, and prevent my life from becoming a big marshmallow. On days that appear to be really busy or stressful, I give myself more downtime for rest and leisure. I often lay down when I get home from a long day and sometimes I even end up taking a nap if I’m tired enough. Knowing when to push myself and when to take a break keeps my days from being agonizingly boring or overwhelmingly stressful.