Dealing with Stress

Sometimes in life our thoughts get the better of us. Worldy things can bog us down, pulling us deeper into the chaos of our surroundings. It's good to just take 30 minutes each day to step back from it all and catch your breath. Without realising we get so stuck in our present situation we forget about the bigger pictures and I for one tend to do this on a regular basis.

Most of you don't know this about me but despite what you may think I am an extremely anxious person. I tend to worry daily about the most minute of things. I stress constantly and I am too hard on myself and unconsciously put unnecessary pressure on myself. These are all things I truly wish I could change but unfortunately these qualities have become a part of who I am and no matter how much I try I can't stop who I am.
So lately I have been taking a rather different approach, instead of trying to fight these traits i've been learning to deal with them and how to keep a handle on them. In lesser words : BREATH

School unfortunately is a heavy burden on me, I love learning but you will know if you read my posts that I strongly disagree with the education system at the moment so sadly school is not a place of happy healthy learning but rather a breathing ground for overpowering negative thoughts to nest in my brain. Wow I seem awfully negative but honestly I did intend for this to be positive I promise ;)
In order to relief ,or more realisticly, control the stress of my daily school life I like to make habit of the following:

I think being organised is definitely, for me anyways, a good way to put a leash on the chaos of school life. I like to plan out my weeks just alittle. I fill in my tests and try to give myself two days beforehand to study so im not cramming throughout night. I  like my sleep too much to even attempt to try that.
I don't like to be too prepared I know that sounds hypocritical looking to the fact that I just said I like to be organized, but I find that overplanning is a self destructive disaster waiting to happen. 
If I pre-schedule what im going to do I tend to put myself down about not doing it,which in turn demotivates me in trying to achieve my next task and im pretty sure you see where this is going.

After school I like to treat myself to abit of YouTube TLC. I love to catch up on my subscriptions accompanied by a nice biggg cup of tea. I think it's a great way to settle down before I dive into my pit of essays and assignments and homework. My favourite kind of videos as of late are without a doubt, Vlogs. If you don't already know a Vlog is a video blog where people film their daily lives. I think these kind of videos go alongside my reality tv addiction which I have been feeding into greatly this November. I find that watching the exciting lives of other people strangely quite relaxing, it's like an odd little reminder that after the Leaving Cert i'll have time to explore and enjoy the great things the world has to offer, travel and hopefully make more friends :) My favourite vloggers at the minute would have to be MoreZoella, MelonsWorld, and Essiebuttonvlogs.

Okay this one's gonna get some eyes rolling, but honestly I find that Yoga helps. I don't really give myself time to do it but when I feel myself edging closer to a stress meltdown, I know it's time to whip out my gym mat and throw on my trackies. There's just something so peaceful about consciously acknowledging your breath. I don't know about you but most of the time I forget that im breathing. That my body is made up of organs and tissues and cells and blood. That behind all those worries,ideas and thoughts that I am a body. I can go about my day because my lungs are taking in oxygen and expeling carbon dioxide that my heart is pumping nutrients to my cells. It is a miracle that all these little intermingled systems are working perfectly to allow me to.. simply be. It's lovely to just slow down and appreciate everything we have been blessed with in life.

In short, don't take life too seriously. Give yourself time to relax and get yourself together. And most of all just remember to BREATHE!