Emotional Wellbeing and presence

Question #1. Have you ever been in a situation where your perception has been affected by possible low brain function caused by stress? Describe how you felt during this situation and what steps you took to destress.
Yes. In these situations I feel like everything gets cloudy and I sense my muscles getting agitated, and my breathing shortening. I often find that my executive functioning or ability to even take a next step to respond to the situation feels overwhelming and hard. I have found that removing myself from the situation or environment can be helpful. My friend also taught me a trick that helps bring me back to the present. You go through each sense and name something you are seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, and tasting. This can help destress by bringing oneself back into their body and out of their mind.

Question #2. How have you overcome negative thoughts or pessimism?
I still don’t always have this down pat, however a question I ask myself to overcome negative thought is to ask, “is that true?” This often makes me realize when I’m in black or white thinking, or if I’m catastrophizing something. Another technique that helps is to counter something positive that happened during the day to remind myself not everything I did was a mistake.

Question #3. How can you be more present and intentional in your everyday decision making and activities?
One way to stay present in addition to the techniques I mentioned above is to continue to circle back to my daily goals. What is it that I want to get better at or get done. I often procrastinate which then leads to stress and less presence. I try to meditate for at least 15 minutes every morning and get to work with enough time to think through my day and prepare any last minute things I need to do. Ideally I would love to get to the place where I can do this at the end of each day so that I am starting my mornings out with even less stress.