• Develop an awareness of general and specific stressors
• Look for and respond to humor
• Reward yourself for achievement
• Take responsibility for your life, your decisions, your actions
• Value, respect, and care for yourself

Health issues

• Eat a balanced diet
• Avoid caffeine - increases arousal, anxiety, irritability
• Foods rich in tryptophan can help with relaxation
• Regular exercise - outdoor activities
• Adequate sleep - consistent sleep schedule
• Avoid self medication with alcohol or drugs
• Learn relaxation strategies and use them
• Keep a list of calming activities

Communications

• Develop a network for social support
• Express yourself
• Ask for what you need from others
• Find a trusted friend with whom you can talk over problems and concerns
• Evaluate whether or not your expectancies of others are realistic
• Seek meaningful and rewarding social relationships
• Reduce time spent in social obligation
• Insulate yourself from the stress of others
• Do not own problems that are not yours
• Seek professional assistance when problems remain static or worsen

Environmental Changes

• Organize and promote a more positive environment to reduce stress
• Cultivate a peaceful environment
• Reduce noise, clutter, annoyances
• Sights, smells, and sounds can be relaxing or irritating

Time Management

• Develop time management skills to use time effectively
• Capture waiting time and use it to your benefit
• Pace yourself - Work at a steady pace.
• Take rest periods before you are fatigued
• Take breaks from tasks requiring extended time
• Avoid boredom and overload
• Schedule time for physical activities
• Schedule time for outdoor activities
• Make leisure time an important priority (rest, relaxation, hobbies)
• Learn to say no without feeling guilty
• Do the least pleasant activities first

Problem Solving and Goal-setting

• Set realistic goals
• Break overwhelming tasks into manageable steps ( You can only eat an elephant one bite at a time.)
• Worrying and problem-solving are not the same thing
• Worrying consumes significant energy and time, is non-productive, and decreases enjoyment of life
• Worrying leads you in circles, not to a solution
• Make decisions instead of permitting things to happen by default
• Knowing that we have choices and making choices can be major factors in reducing depression
• Let go of perfectionism
• Learn to live with loose ends and unfinished tasks
• Delegate tasks when you can
• Accept that they will likely not be done as you would have done them

Cognitive Distortions

• Identify and change thought patterns, beliefs, perceptions, which contribute to stress and depression
• Distinguish between situations over which you have influence / control and those over which you do not
• Let go of the need to fix everything
• Accept things which you truly cannot change
• Learn from those situations - about yourself and others
• Find a meaning in the situation
• Use the situation as an opportunity for personal growth
• Maintain a flexible, open approach to situations
• Are there other ways of looking at this situation?
• Changing perceptions can reduce the stress of the situation
• Keep priorities in focus
• Use energy for endeavors which are consistent with important values

Self-acceptance

• Emphasize strengths
• Accept limitations
  

Libet 2006