Being a teenager in today’s world is hard, and being a girl can sometimes be even harder. In a world so obsessed with appearances, achievements, and advancement, it’s completely normal to crack under the pressures of society. This means that stress, unfortunately, is a feeling every girl has to experience at some point or another. While it is good to have support from the people around you, it is equally, if not more important, to find ways to help yourself deal with worry and stress.
What many of us tend to forget is how most of the time, the best way to relax is to just deal with the things that are causing us the most stress. Instead, we put things off and try to distract ourselves from our worries. I actually encourage you to allow yourself to face these stressors head-on because I have found that productivity is the best gateway to relaxation.
Admittedly, I’m a perfectionist, but I also have my fair share of procrastination. Too many times have I pushed off my homework on a weekend and called it a problem for Sunday night or intended to organize my closet and waited for several months before actually getting around to it. Lately, though, I have come to realize that this kind of procrastination is exactly what has been stressing me out the most.
This year, I decided to start setting aside days with the goal of being productive with no added stress. For me, this meant a lot of changes to my daily schedule, but the payoff was worth it.
Here are some of the starting points to set up a day of high productivity and low worry.
- Clear your schedule for the day if possible. If not, make sure to pick a day where it is possible to set aside more than enough time to do everything you need to do.
- Make a detailed to-do list to remind yourself of what needs to be accomplished that day in order of priority.
- Designate a space for you to work with minimal distractions.
Now, you may be asking yourself what you should actually do on your productive day to keep yourself from getting stressed out or tired. For starters, try waking up a little bit earlier to have a fresh start to the day. Drink some coffee or tea if you need to and let yourself have a big breakfast if you are hungry.
When you decide to start working, limit yourself to doing around 30 minutes to 1 hour’s worth of work. After time is up, take a short break by doing something you like to do. I find it most helpful to get up and move a bit. I do this by going on a walk or doing an at-home workout. After this, put all of your focus into your work until your next break. When you cross something off the to-do list, reward yourself. This could be by giving yourself a longer break to call a friend or watch a show. However, don’t let too much time slip away from you. Finally, the best part about this process is that when you are done, if you have given yourself enough time, you can usually use the rest of the day to relax with complete peace of mind.
The most important thing about a productive workday is to get to know yourself and how you work best.
Do you prefer to work in brighter or darker settings? Are you more focused when you are cold or warm? Would you rather have music playing to keep you on track or will that make you more distracted? Even little details like this can make all the difference when trying to have a day of productivity.
For some, this advice may seem obvious or like something you have heard being said but never seen done. Others of you might have never heard anybody explicitly layout this kind of organizational practice before. I know for me, I wish somebody had given me this kind of advice years ago because it took me far too long to figure it out for myself.
Ever since I started allowing myself these productivity days, I have been way less stressed, more focused, and happier in general. This is why I believe being productive is really the best form of self-care out there because it allows you to take the immediate weights off your shoulders while also teaching you more about yourself and how to deal with similar problems in the future. With these things in mind, I hope you are inspired to try to have your own day that takes you from productivity to serenity.
