52 PROVEN STRESS REDUCERS (PART I)

1. Get up fiteen minutes earlier in the morning. The inevitable morning mishaps will be less stressful.

2. Prepare for the morning the evening before. Set the breakfast table, make lunches, put out the clothes you plan to wear, etc.

3. Don´t rely on you memory. Write down appointment times, when to pick up the laundry, when library book are due, etc. (¨The palest ink is better than the most retentive memory. ¨- Old chinese Proverb).

4. Do nothing whic, after being done, leads you to tell a lie.

5. Make duplicates of all keys. Bury a house key in a secret spot in the garden and carry a duplicate car key in your wallet, apart from your key ring.

6. Practice preventive maintenancce. Your car, appliances, home, and relationships will be less likely to break down/fall apart ¨at the worst possible moment¨.

7. Be prepared to wait. A paperback can make a wait in a post office line almost pleasant.

8. Procrastination is stressful. Whatever you want to do tomorrow, do TODAY; whatever you want to do today, do it NOW.

9. Plan ahead. Don´t let the gas thank get below one-quarter full, keep a well-stocked ¨emergency shelf ¨of home staples, don´t wait until you´re donw to your last bus token or postage stamp to buy more, etc.

10. Don´t put up with something that doesn´t work right. If your alarm clock, wallet, shoe laces, windshield wipers-whatever- are a constant aggravation, get them fixed or get new ones.

11. Allow, 15 minutes of extra time to get to appointments. Plan to arrive at an airport one hour before domestic departures.

12. Eliminate (or restrict) the amount of caffeine in your diet.

13. Allwayss set up contingency plans, ¨just in case ¨. (¨If for some reason either of us is delayed, here´s what we´ll do...¨kind of thing. Or, ¨if we get split up in the shopping center, here´s where we´ll meeet. ¨)

14. Relax your standards. The world will not end if the grass doesn´t get moved this weekend.


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