better about the situation. Remember though that reframing doesn’t change the external reality but simply helps people view things differently and less stressfully. ("Better late than never") Leisure Time The word Leisure is actually derived from the Latin word "licere" which means permission. You need to give yourself permission to take some time out to have fun. Leisure time and levels of distress are proportional – the less leisure, the more stress. Leisure time should be taken in intervals throughout the day. A ten-minute break every few hours will do wonders for someone who is stressed out. Take a walk around the office, at school, or just at home. Get your muscles stretched out and relieve some tension. Leisure is one of the most pleasant stress relievers ever invented. Sleep Sleep is an important way of reducing stress. People who are tired do not deal with stressful situations very well and this is where that vicious cycle I was talking about begins. It eventually leads to loss of concentration in your studies at school and can even affect job performance. When distressed people get more sleep, they feel better and can deal with day-to-day events more readily. Pay attention to your body cycle, If you wake up groggy in the morning you may need more sleep. In an attempt to relieve some of the distress I experience from day to day I employed three of the strategies that I listed above. I decided to start exercising regularly and found that it really did help. When I went to the gym after a long stressful day lifting weights and taking a little jog on the treadmill relieved a lot of my stress and frustrations. I guess that’s why some people say that the gym is where they like to go to "get away from it all". I often found that on my way to work I would get extremely frustrated with all the other people on the road so I decided to use the realistic expectations exercise on my way to work every day...
