Day 1: Welcome to Decompress
This page goes over a day in the Decompress course: check-in, activities, and resources.
Check in
How are you feeling?
Take a moment to check in with yourself. Noting the positive (and negative) things in your life can help you avoid black and white thinking and overgeneralization. We can start with these three:
What is one thing that made you happy today?
What is one thing that made you upset today?
What is one thing you’re proud of in the past week? (It could be anything! Baking a cake, finding time to chat with friends, turning in homework on time etc)
You could write it down in a journal or just think about it to yourself. Journaling could help you keep track of your journey in mindfulness, but be sure to do what works for you best!
Activities :)
Ways to De-stress
In this section, you’ll find all kinds of activities, crafts, and ideas that can help you de-stress. Each ‘day’ of the course has its own activities, but you can always go back to a previous page through your email.
At the end of each Activities section is an ‘assignment’ (totally optional, though!) to help you stay involved with the Decompress program when you’re away from the site.
photo by Nordwood Themes (Unsplash)
Dessert in a Mug.
Baking is a great way to destress. It provides a distraction for a busy or overwhelmed mind; plus, you get something sweet out of it! (Here’s a link that talks about why baking could help you de-stress: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/feeling-down-scientists-say-cooking-and-baking-may-help-you-feel-better-180961223/) . Click on the picture to get the recipe.
photo by Rachel Clark (Unsplash)
Go for a walk!
Taking just a 10 minute walk can bring some calm to your day. Exercise reduces stress by stabilizing and controlling mood, improving brain function, and taking you away from your busy schedule for some time. For students, it may be hard to squeeze in a long walk between school and outside-school activities, but by just taking break from homework for ten minutes, you can improve your mood!
Mindfulness Resources
Links to More Mindfulness Help
Decompress can help direct you to different resources for guided meditations, self help videos, and other content from the world wide web.
*Content is not created or owned by Decompress. Content belongs to the original creator.
Staying Calm
Through an animated video from Ted-Ed, you can learn the different reactions and ways to deal with pressure.
How to stay calm under pressure - Noa Kageyama and Pen-Pen Chen
Video content from and belongs to Ted-Ed: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsooa4yRKGN_zEE8iknghZA
Direct link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqgmozFr_GM
An Intro to Meditation
Meditation is a healthy way to deal with stress. A study at Johns Hopkins suggests that practicing mindfulness can help reduce feelings of anxiety and depression (Corliss). Watch this video from Headspace to learn how to start on your meditation journey.
Headspace | Meditation | Getting Started
Video content belongs to Headspace:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Getsomeheadspace
Direct link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_yXe_6mYTA&feature=youtu.be