How to keep stress at bay

Teaching is not an easy job. It may be ranked as one of the most stressful jobs nowadays. As a teacher, I have always been on the lookout on how I can de-stress myself. The problem starts on my being very critical of myself and on the way I do things. You would think that I am a control freak. I worry too and feel very anxious about a lot of things. However, all these traits are not helping me any on my goal to have a happy and fulfilled life. Oftentimes, I feel like I don't enjoy life at all. There are mornings that I still dread going to work because going to school is like going to my prison cell. This past week, I did some changes on how I think and it really helped me a lot. I am less stressed and I feel happier. What I do is that I usually pause everytime I feel the stress pains in my abdomen and just breathe. I try to force myself to think that everything is going to be okay because I am doing my best. All I need to ask myself is whether I am doing what I think I am supposed to do and if my answer is "yes" then I just leave it at that. Knowing too that all this is temporary is also a lot of help for me. I am still trying to practice what they call as just living in the now. Everytime I catch myself dreading the future, I just go back and focus on the NOW. All these little steps had helped me a lot lately.

My greatest problem

Lately, I have been analyzing the way I am doing things. I have observed that I am always busy but I don't accomplish much. I usually choose the easy and urgent tasks and not have enough time to the tasks that will have more impact on my life overall. It is common to find myself feeling guilty doing things that are not necessarily important. My productivity is low these days in terms of grading and putting grades in the computer. However, I am less stressed and makes me feel I am enjoying my life. I hope to find the right balance so I can finish everything that I need to do and still find time to smell the roses.