Journal Entry 4

1.) Yes, I have been in a situation where my perception was affected by stress in combination with less sleep. In this situation I felt hopeless, tight, overwhelmed, and like my head was in a fog. I felt like I was going through the motions and my head was spinning and really heavy throughout the day. While I was able to make it through school, to de-stress, I drank a lot of water and took deep breaths, unplugged my computer and then went to a yoga class after work. When I was home that night, I went to bed early instead of doing extra reading/work
2.) I like to balance each of my negative thoughts with one positive thought. For example, I might leave school thinking about negative things that happened with certain students, but for each negative I think there is always another student who represents a positive. I try to write down those positives or internalize the positive moments with students/interactions with parents and look at those to overcome my negative thoughts. When it comes to motivation or pessimism I usually try to surround myself with others who might uplift me. I feed off of other people's positive energy, so I will usually take steps to go to a workout class with a motivating instructor or spend time with my close friends. I am most motivated by my swim teammates and friends. Usually after spending time with them, I feel uplifted no matter what has happened that day.
3.) I can be more present in my decision making and activities by actively making decisions to prioritize my health-such as getting more sleep and taking more time to do activities that make me feel like myself. I can also take steps to write down my goals for each day, including ones that prioritize my health, to make sure I am striving to attain them every day.