• Hello everyone at home.  I just want you to know that I am thinking of all of you during this crazy time.  I am sure some of you have concerns or anxiety over when will things get back to normal.  I am sure you are missing your friends, missing the routine of things and even missing your teachers and some of your classes.  I just wanted to remind all of you of the skills we have worked on in dealing with stress.  If I haven't worked on this with you, you can still read through to get some ideas on what you can do if you are feeling a little anxious or stressed.  You might want to even discuss these with your parents.  

    1.  Turning negative feelings into positive ones.  Remember the boy who stole the candy bar?  He was feeling very guilty for what he had done.  Guilty is a negative feeling.  He changed that feeling by returning the candy bar and admitting to what he had done.  He now is feeling proud for taking the responsibility for what he had done.  Now the positive feeling.  Think about what is going on right now.  We may be a little worried because we don't have school now or the worry of the unkown...what is going to happen?  Let's change that feeling to a positive the now I can spend more time with my family, maybe there is a project you wanted to get done or learn how to do new things.  This will change this worry into a feeling of accompishing something new.  

    2.  Take deep breaths.  Whether you do the sqaure breathing that we talked about or do some other type of breathing.  Deep breaths always help.  Check out my links page to see some really cool breathing games.  

    3.  Use your imagination.  Put yourself in your safe place.  Where everr makes you calm.  It may be your room, the beach, in a pool etc.  Use all 5 senses.  What do you hear and smell?  Can you feel anything?  ie heat, wind, sand.  Can you taste anything?  Visualize exactly what it looks like.

    4. Tensing and relaxing.  Put your arms out and make a fist.  Hold for 10 seconds, then relax them.  Repeat.  Stick your legs out trying to reach the opposite wall.  Push trying to touch the wall.  Hold for 10, then relax.  Repeat.  Do both your arms and legs together.  Then relax them.

    5.  Talk to yourself.  Tell yourself I can do this.  I got this!  I'm a very special person and there are people that love me. 

    6.  Lead a low stress life.  Stay on a regular routine.  Get enough sleep.  Eat Healthy.  

    7.  The best skill is play.  NOT your video games all day!  Rmember we talked about video games causeing more stress for us.  Go outside, kick a ball around and make it a game to see how many times you can kick it in the air before it falls down.  Shoot some hoops or just go for a walk.  Drawing is a great stress reducer or learning something new like playing an instrument, making crafts etc.  I am posting some neat websites on my other link to give you some ideas to try. 

    Hopefully we will see each other soon.  If you ever feel the need to talk, shoot me an email. I check it daily and leave me a number for me to call.  I will be checking in on my counseling students just to see how you are doing.  

    Take care and stay healthy!

     

     

     

     

     
Last Modified on March 22, 2020