Students' ideas for dealing with stress.

• Laugh out loud - just start giggling and work your way up to a roar
• Tell a joke to a friend and remember the punch line
• Get or give a massage
• Beat your pillow to simthereens
• Work on a puzzle
• Memorize a silly poem
• Massage your face
• Schedule four 5-minute breaks a day, then take them
• If you have a yard, work in it
• Remember: nearly all crises aren't
• Talk with people you care about
• Write down your frustrations
• Take a luxurious bath
• Listen to a favorite CD
• Call an old friend
• Read from a book of inspirational quotations
• Climb a tree
• Write down your schedule for the day
• Pray or meditate
• Draw something
• Grow herbs
• Go for a walk or hike
• Have a bubble-gum-blowing contest
• Exercise regularly
• If you're right-handed, do things left-handed
• If you're left-handed, do things right-handed
• If you can use either hand, use your toes
• If you feel like crying, cry
• Sing (not too loud)
• Oh, go ahead - sing loud
• Keep a journal
• Spend some time alone each day
• Make a to-do list
• Put "Make a to-do list" as the first thing on the list, then cross it off!
• Light some candles and turn off the lights
• Play with your dog or cat
• Borrow someone else's dog or cat to play with
• Eat breakfast
• Soak your feet in warm water, then give yourself a pedicure
• Go dancing
• Make a cake and lick the beaters
• Grab a camera and some film and start snapping
• Be early to your appointments
• Have a root beer float
• Read the newspaper all the way through
• Take 5 slow, deep breaths
• Try something new
• Surf the net
• Sit in a church or temple or other spiritual place
• Go to bed at a regular time and get enough sleep
• Date one person at a time
• Organize your closet
• Play the kazoo - or any instrument
• Call your mother or father just to talk
• Do yoga
• Skip to your next appointment (instead of skipping your next appointment)
• Rent a funny movie
• Stand on your head - on a pillow
• Read a children's book
• Talk in pig-Latin
• Rinse your face with cold water
• Shop, without buying
• Write a long letter
• Take a different route home
• Get some clay and create a masterpiece
• Kick a ball hard
• Watch cartoons, especially Scooby Doo
• Blow bubbles
• Keep your checkbook balanced
• Stand still for 2 minutes
• Go to the library
• Swim
• Hold your breath
• Continue holding your breath
• OK, let it out
• Do some finger painting, and get really messy
• Play tag
• Take a bubble bath
• Stretch in the morning and throughout the day
• Go fly a kite
• Look in the mirror and tell yourself 3 things you like about yourself
• Start collecting something
• Take a leisurely bike ride
• Hit a punching bag
• Make a gift for a friend
• Be honest and respectful with yourself and others
• Do cartwheels
• Go to a sporting event
• Dye your hair (use temporary dye if you're not sure about a permanent change)
• Express your appreciation to someone
• Postpone getting a tattoo or body piercing
• Allow yourself some free time
• Buy a new pen
• Read old e-mail or letters from friends
• Play cards
• Use a calendar planner
• Cut wood or do some other strenuous activity
• Ask for help when you need to
• Get a stress ball and squeeze it!
• Imagine sitting by a stream and each problem you have is a leaf floating by
• Write your own list of ways to bust stress