No matter what is troubling you and keeping you from enjoying your life to the
full, help is literally a few clicks of the mouse away. The Internet is rife
with virtual support groups created to support those individuals who are
suffering anything from loneliness and shyness to urinary incontinence and
hemorrhoids. A quick Web search will most probably give you hundreds of results
for forums, newsgroups, and online communities that have something to do with
your condition or troubles. And unlike offline support groups, the support
groups you will find online offer a great deal of anonymity. (We say a great
deal of anonymity rather than complete anonymity, since as any Net savvy person
will tell you, the Internet and anonymity are not exactly the best of friends
just yet. You may like to keep that in mind as you spill your guts online.)

There are also Web sites where you can receive free advice from medical doctors
and other qualified professionals. What someone in person would normally charge
you an arm and a leg to receive, you can get for absolutely nothing online. As
always, though, be careful with any advice you receive from a stranger online,
qualified or not. Despite the technological marvels of the Internet, it has yet
to eliminate the need for a second opinion.

If loneliness is causing you stress and anxiety, there are numerous
social-networking Web sites that allow you to find and interact with people who
live in your local area. This is a great way to meet people who share your
interest in that one hobby of yours that no one else you know seems to enjoy.
You can also use the Internet to pursue new hobbies and pursuits that pique your
curiosity. Chances are you have already used an instant-messaging program to
chat with your buddies in real time. Instant messaging is a quick and easy way
to meet new people, especially with the instant-messaging clients that have an
integrated people-search feature.

Always wanted to attend art classes? Find a few video tutorials online that
will guide you through the fundamental techniques. That way, you can tell right
away whether landscape painting, profile drawing, or whatever else it is that
has caught your interest will really be the thing for you. Always wanted to
sign up for a boot camp but are afraid of what you would be getting yourself
into? Check out videos online that show what takes place at a typical boot
camp. Been considering buying a dog to keep you company but are unsure which
breed of dog would be right for you? If you are good with your Internet
searches, you can probably find a huge collage of different dog breeds or a
video compilation that rapidly flashes through your available options.

So keep in mind that you need not suffer from stress and anxiety all alone.
There are plenty of people out there just like you. Do not be afraid to reach
out to others, whether online or offline. Although this article is now
beginning to sound like a government-sponsored television commercial, the help
you seek is always yours for the taking.

Circumstances may indeed be fixed and out of your control, but your views are
yours for the changing. Sometimes simply taking a different perspective in
thought can cause an immediate relief in feeling. An ample illustration of this
fact can be seen in how two similar events can produce two vastly different
reactions. Take, for instance, an event familiar to us all: driving around
downtown and encountering one red traffic light after another. Even on those
occasions when you are not in a hurry to be anywhere in particular, is it not
true that such an insignificant chain of events can infuriate you to the point
where you are cursing the gods and bemoaning your fate? And yet at other times
you drive around in a relaxed daze, impervious to the onslaught of red. Indeed,
who does not enjoy sitting around on the couch doing sweet nothing? Revealing is
the fact that a car is pretty much a mobile couch!

Epictetus divided the nature of reality into two categories: things we can
control and things we cannot control. The former he termed prohairetic things;
the latter he termed aprohairetic things. Examples of prohairetic things
include your thoughts, your values, your beliefs, your morals, your opinions,
your desires, and your emotions. Examples of aprohairetic things include food
served cold, late parcel deliveries, slow trains, long lines, noisy lawnmowers,
and red lights. Although you might not be able to achieve the Stoic goal of
complete detachment from aprohairetic reality (after all, being mugged in a
dark alley is not simply an inconvenient occurrence!), if you are honest with
yourself, you will no doubt appreciate how much you tend to overreact to the
most inconsequential of happenings, thereby introducing stress into what could
otherwise be a blissful existence — at least until the next bill arrives.

The simple fact is that stress does not exist in the events around you. Stress
is a product of your own mind. If stress existed in events themselves, then
everyone would react to so-called stressful events with the same level of
stress. Yet surely you know from your own experience that different people have
different stress thresholds, different stress fuses, as it were. Some people
grin their way through a tornado, whereas other people grate their way through
a lottery win (“What am I supposed to do with all this money? What if I do not
manage it properly? Why did this happen to me?”!) Perhaps the headline found in
one national newspaper speaks volumes: WOMAN ‘UNEXCITED’ BY $16M LOTTERY WIN.

Epictetus taught that the individual who succeeds in firmly establishing the
distinctions between the prohairetic and the aprohairetic will live a life
unencumbered by the stress-inducing tendencies of the untamed human mind. Such
an individual will reach the state known as ataraxia, or a serene state of
mind. Another quote from the master stress-blesser: “I must die. Must I then
die lamenting? I must be put in chains. Must I then also lament? I must go into
exile. Does any man then hinder me from going with smiles and cheerfulness and
contentment?”

Epictetus was not the only Stoic philosopher who understood the self-created
nature of stress. Marcus Aurelius, another philosopher writing in the Stoic
tradition, said, “Outward things cannot touch the soul, not in the least
degree; nor have they admission to the soul, nor can they turn or move the
soul; but the soul turns and moves itself alone.”

Or perhaps more relevant to our own times, particularly with the rising gas
prices of the day: I must dump my lead foot on the brake and stop at yet
another red light. Does anything hinder me from gloating over the few cents
I have saved with my increased fuel economy? My spouse has cheated on me. Does
anything hinder me from pulling out the prenup and winning custody of the
PlayStation?

Fortunately for you, there are many different types of massage available from
which to choose. You can experiment with the types that catch your fancy and
discover what works best for you when it comes to relieving stress. This
article is a small outline of some of the available types of massage awaiting
your indulgence.

Acupressure is a form of massage developed by the same Chinese folks who
brought the world acupuncture. In fact, the theory behind acupressure is based
on the theory behind acupuncture. But you need not believe in the theories of
traditional Chinese medicine to enjoy a massage. Acupressure uses the fingers,
palms, and elbows to apply pressure to parts of the body believed to have some
connection to the ailment in question. The beauty of acupressure is that many
of its techniques can be done solo.

Aryuvedic massage is a form of massage that stems from the Indian art of
Aryuvedic medicine, a system of holistic treatment. The masseur or masseuse
uses hot herbal oils believed to treat certain conditions of the body and mind.

Reflexology is a form of massage that focuses heavily on the feet. The belief
is that certain parts of the foot correspond in some metaphysical way to
certain parts of the body. Stimulation of parts of the foot is believed to
result in stimulation of the corresponding parts of the body. If you have been
walking non-stop all week and want to experience a style of massage that
centers on your feet, reflexology may be the style for you.

Shiatsu is a form of massage from Japan, based on the same metaphysical beliefs
as acupressure (what the Chinese call chi, what the Indians call prana, and
what the Japanese call ki is the energy believed to flow through the body along
uniform channels). It too uses the hands, particularly the thumbs, to apply
pressure to various parts of the body.

Swedish massage is a very popular form of massage that uses light touches,
kneading, rhythmic tapping, compression, and vibration to relieve the body of
pain, stiffness, tension, and the results of stress. This form of massage is
what people usually think of when conversations about massage arise.

Thai massage is a form of massage that combines stretches with applied
pressure. Depending on the Thai masseur or masseuse, the emphasis may be on
either the stretches or the applied pressure.

Often people find that giving a massage to someone else can be as relaxing as
receiving a massage themselves. If you are one of these people and are having
trouble finding subjects who wish to lie down on your makeshift massage table,
consider signing up for a course in massage therapy at your local community
college. Doing so will provide you with hands-on instruction for a number of
massage techniques (and it does not get any more hands-on than massage!).
Furthermore, you will have plenty of willing subjects available, and you may
one day even be able to charge for your services. At the very least, your
friends and family will no longer be avoiding your massage table as they do
now, scared as they are of being the new power tools for your viselike hands.

Health, wealth, and relationships — the big three. These three spheres of your
life form a triangle in which stress can develop at any time. Mastery of your
three spheres results in a substantial decrease in the stress you experience on
a daily basis.

Ideally, you should always be working on some area of improvement in each of
your three spheres. Humans, by nature, are most happy when they are growing,
not when they are stagnant. As long as you feel that you are growing in each of
your three spheres, happiness is always yours for the taking.

Balance is the key here. If you focus too much on one sphere to the detriment
of the other two spheres, you will most probably invite stressors in those two
spheres of your life. There are plenty of instances from everyday life that
attest to this fact: the workaholic who has no time for his family and loved
ones and who develops ulcers and other health conditions through neglect of his
physical health; the fitness fanatic who is so fixated on running the extra
mile or lifting the extra kilogram or admiring his physique in the mirror that
his relationships go down the toilet and who just scrapes by on his income; and
the romantic husband who is not making enough money to deal with the many
factors involved in owning a home or raising kids and who dies at an early age
from heart disease. Although these are all extreme examples, the point is that
you need to strive for balanced progress in the three facets of your life.

You can never eliminate stressors entirely from your life, but by mastering
your stress triangle, you can dramatically reduce both the frequency and the
severity of stressors.

Health is holistic health: the health of your body, mind, emotions, and, if you
are spiritually inclined, your spirit. Again, balance is the key, since you are
unlikely going to find much happiness in life if your body is fighting fit,
your mind is sharp, but you have the emotional maturity of a three-year-old
kid and throw temper tantrums by the hour. Nor would it be wise to focus on the
development of your spirit at the expense of your body, as many ascetics are
wont to do. There is no need to dwell on the specifics of health, for the way
to healthy living is now a matter of common sense.

Wealth is all about financial security, having enough money to satisfy your
needs and wants and then some. You should try to gain a basic understanding of
economics, finance, and the markets. There are many good guides out there for
starting out on the path to financial freedom. Beware of get-rich-quick
schemes. On the other hand, do not be too quick to dismiss opportunities that
may seem to go against the grain of conventional practice. Thinking like the
herd will keep you in the herd. If you are currently doing underpaid grunt
work, make it a goal to become self-employed and independent, the captain of
your own ship. Consider taking part-time or evening courses to gain additional
qualifications in whatever fields interest you. Never settle for less than you
feel you deserve. Do not make the mistake of thinking that you and your current
job are welded together like inseparable Siamese twins.

Relationships require constant nurturing. Love dies and fights occur when the
initial sparks have died as a result of gross neglect. Always be on the lookout
for new adventures that you and your partner can participate in together. Do
not take your friends for granted. Be open to meeting new people at all times.
Work on your communication skills, your listening skills, and your overall
people skills. Take a look along the psychology aisle at your local bookstore
for books about developing interpersonal skills. Learn to express yourself.

What we have termed the stress triangle can be termed the life triangle. What
is the state of your triangle?

We will not be naive enough to think that a simple article will turn your study
habits around 180 degrees to the point where you are canceling dinner dates
and skipping Friday-night parties in order to stay home and study. We will,
however, offer a few practical, realistic suggestions for improving your study
habits so that you are getting things done and reducing the amount of stress
that can fly your way.

The first suggestion arises from the observation that there are many wasted
time slots throughout your day. An example of a wasted time slot would be the
journey home on the bus, assuming you are a commuter. Further examples of
wasted time slots would be the hour you spend waiting for the dentist, the hour
you spend standing around at the field doing nothing while waiting for your
favorite spectator sport to commence, and the hour you spend looking at
your watch until you finally figure out that your date for the night has stood
you up.

These wasted time slots could be put to good study use. They will all add up to
a considerable amount of time, so much so that you will probably run out of
stuff to study before you can say goodbye to thumb-twiddling and foot-tapping
for good. Often these time slots are so monumentally boring that even that
thick textbook on molecular biology may prove interesting enough to pass the
time.

The second suggestion arises from the observation that you easily do whatever
you find enjoyable. After all, there probably never will be such a thing as the
last-minute pizza pig-out or the last-minute purchase of the latest album from
your favorite band.

Surely there is something enjoyable about what you are studying. If you are in
college, you picked your course for a reason, assuming you are not one of those
creepy kids trying to live up to the stringent expectations of your parents.
Why did you choose to study whatever it is you are studying? What drew you in?
Reawaken that curiosity, that spark of interest. If you can succeed in making
the pursuit of knowledge an enjoyable end in itself, then there is absolutely
nothing that can fail to hold your interest.

The third and final suggestion arises from the observation that it is easy to
study your material when you are trying to impress someone by doing so. Maybe
you have your eyes set on an attractive classmate who seems to be fully into
the material.

The beauty of the Internet is that many course modules have a Web site that has
not only lecture notes and so forth but also an interactive forum where
students can discuss course material among themselves, ask questions, share
answers, and generally keep one another motivated. You probably can guess where
this is leading, but we did tell you that our stress-busting advice for exams
and study would be practical and realistic! Look, just dump all your IM
contacts, hit the books, and get to that forum not a moment too soon — you
have a potential date to woo with your incisive insights on the
gastrointestinal diseases prevalent in 16th-century Europe.

Stress results when you feel as if you do not have the resources to cope with a
physical, mental, or emotional challenge. That challenge may be real, or it may
be the result of misinformation, delusional thinking, or some other form of
error.

The word ‘stress’ was coined by the endocrinologist Hans Selye in the 1930s to
refer to certain observable physiological responses in lab animals. He also
coined the word ‘stressor’ to refer to the external threat that is the cause of
the stress reaction. Selye developed a three-stage model of the stress reaction
that he called the general adaptation syndrome, or GAS.

The first stage is alarm. The organism initially responds to stressors with
alarm. You may have heard of the so-called fight-or-flight response. The
fight-or-flight response occurs during the first stage of stress as adrenaline
surges through the bloodstream.

The second stage is resistance. The organism tries frantically to accommodate
the stressor and cope with it. However, the organism cannot keep doing this, so
there is a gradual depletion in resources, leading to the third stage.

The third stage is exhaustion. This occurs when the organism has depleted all
its resources and is unable to function properly. At this stage, your heart
rate skyrockets, you sweat profusely, and you experience various other
uncomfortable phenomena. If the third stage persists indefinitely, you are at
great risk of incurring physiological damage. This damage usually results from
a demand on the endocrine and immune systems that is much too high. The end
result is probably not news to you: ulcers, digestive issues such as irritable
bowel syndrome (IBS), cardiovascular issues, and various mental issues spanning
the neurosis-psychosis spectrum, such as depression.

Fortunately, you are not merely a biological organism forever at the mercy of
programmed robotic responses. What gives you the edge over virtually every
other organism in the animal kingdom is that distinctly human trait: higher
cognition. Through your reason and rationality, you have the power to rewire a
great portion of your stress response. Before external events can put your
stress circuitry into gear, those events must first be perceived. And human
perception is inextricably linked to human cognition. The irony is that without
human cognition, you would hardly react the way you do to the little trifles of
life. Your stress reserves would be saved for the next time a lion pounces at
you. There is much to be said for the significant role that thought plays in
stress.

Rather than thinking of your stress response as a cruel enemy, learn to embrace
the inner wisdom of your body as it goes about its task of ensuring your
survival. Your stress response has protected you numerous times throughout your
life and will continue doing so for as long as you live. It is like a close pal
or relative who is apt to overreact at times and who you sometimes wish would
butt out of your business, but who deep down you know will always be there
wanting the best for you.

Dr. R. Shulman reported in the British Journal of Psychiatry that forty-eight
out of fifty-nine psychiatric patients had folic-acid deficiencies.

The nutrients important in the reduction of stress are listed below:

Vitamin B1 (thiamine) — taking more than the average can alleviate depression
and anxiety attacks.

Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) — the body uses this vitamin to produce natural
antidepressants such as dopamine and norepinephrine.

Pantothenic acid — a natural stress-reliever.

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) — another natural stress-reliever.

Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) — assists in maintaining a healthy nervous system,
improves concentration, increases energy levels, and helps relieve stress and
irritability.

Choline — a natural sedative.

Vitamin E (dry form, alpha-tocopherol) — aids in the transport of oxygen to
the brain, vital for maintaining a stable mood.

Folic acid — deficiencies have been known to contribute to a number of
different mental illnesses.

Zinc — essential for a healthy brain.

Magnesium — a mineral that combats stress and its negative effects on the
body.

Manganese — reduces stress and irritability.

Niacin — needed for a healthy nervous system.

Calcium — alleviates stress and has a calming effect.

Tyrosine — speeds up the production of the natural antidepressants dopamine
and norepinephrine.

Tryptophan — in conjunction with vitamin B6, niacin, and magnesium, produces
the neurotransmitter serotonin, the king of natural anti-stress chemicals.
(Note that many popular medications used to treat depression and anxiety
actually work their magic by increasing the level of serotonin in the brain.)

Phenylalanine — another trigger of the natural antidepressants dopamine and
norepinephrine.

So how do you ensure that you are not deficient in any of these vitamins and
minerals? The easiest way of going about this is to take a daily multivitamin
and mineral supplement. There are many different brands of multivitamins on the
market today, but you need not spend your cash on a brand purporting to be of
premium quality; a one-a-day generic multivitamin will work fine for most
people. Most of the generic multivitamins are low in vitamin C, however, so you
may wish to buy an additional container of vitamin C capsules.

Another helpful supplement is fish oil. You have probably heard that there are
good fats and bad fats when it comes to diet and nutrition. Well, fish oil is a
source of good fats, otherwise known as essential fatty acids (EFAs). A vast
number of people are deficient in these essential fats. Taking fish oil
daily will allow your body to normalize EFA levels. One sign that this is
working is that your skin will take on a very smooth texture. You may also find
that your moods are far more stable than usual.

A herbal supplement that many people find helpful in dealing with stress is St.
John’s wort.

Be sure you are getting enough fiber in your diet. The results of not getting
enough fiber are enough to cause stress in anyone.

Drinking plenty of water is a piece of advice that you have probably had
drilled into your head on many occasions. Although the conventional wisdom of
drinking a certain number of glasses of water each day has actually been
challenged scientifically in recent times, there can be no doubt that staying
properly hydrated is vital for healthy skin, healthy kidneys, and a healthy
body overall. Moreover, what is one of the classic symptoms of dehydration?
Stress, irritability.

Nutrition for stress-free living is not merely a matter of what to take into
the body, but also of what not to take into the body. Excessive smoking,
excessive amounts of alcohol, and the use of illegal drugs wreak havoc on the
body and cause unnecessary amounts of stress. Sugar, saturated fat, artificial
preservatives/flavors/colors, and substances that your body may not react well
to (such as lactose, gluten, and caffeine) all start a chain reaction that ends
in stress, among many other problems. If you really want to stop harmful
substances from entering your body, consider switching to organic food.

A fast every now and then is a natural form of detox. You may wish to
incorporate intermittent fasting into your diet.

Opinions on the veracity of claims made by speed-readers vary. On the one hand,
supporters of the claims like to point out that two former American presidents,
John F. Kennedy and Jimmy Carter, were both active proponents of speed reading.
On the other hand, one well-known skeptic offers the following words of
advice: “Those desiring to increase the speed of their reading would do better
to enroll in a community college course devoted to building study skills,
vocabulary, and reading comprehension. It would cost them less, and they would
not end up wasting their time trying to read 10 lines at a time, backward and
forward.”

Of course, it would be awfully remiss of an article on speed reading to leave
out the quip attributed to the wonderful Woody Allen: “I took a speed-reading
course and read War and Peace in 20 minutes. It involves Russia.”

No matter your stance on the credibility of speed-reading claims, having any
kind of strategy for devouring your reading material is surely better than
having none. We will cover a few of the common speed-reading techniques and
discuss some ideas for taking your reading more seriously. If you are a rather
average reader, using these techniques and ideas should enable you to at least
double your reading speed over time. Even the modest goal of going from 200
words per minute to 400 words per minute would certainly be better than nothing
and would halve the time of your reading, a considerable improvement to your
stress-filled life.

Let us start with arranging your reading material. There is a saying about how
eating a live frog at the start of the day would make the remaining worries of
the day seem trivial in comparison. When it comes to reading, it helps a lot to
start with the most tedious or monotonous material first. Get that out of the
way so that your reading becomes progressively easier and less taxing on your
mental faculties. Non-fiction is usually always going to come before fiction,
unless you are pulling a Woody Allen with Tolstoy and such.

When reading books, you can often get a sense of the bigger picture by reading
the table of contents, the first and last paragraphs of all chapters, the
headings and subheadings, and the diagram captions. Chunking up in this way
allows your mind to structure the material into a logical and coherent whole.
This makes it easier to assimilate the finer points as you move along. It also
gives you an early warning for books that are going to waste your time — how
many times have you read the first five or six chapters of a book, only to find
the author going all over the place from the seventh?

Now for a few speed-reading techniques. We will mention several ones that you
can use immediately. First, you may or may not find that using a ruler, pen, or
finger to carry your eyes along the page increases reading speed. Second,
eliminate regression or back-reading: try to develop the habit of continuous
movement forward, without going back over words you have just read. Finally,
eliminate subvocalization: some courses state that silencing the inner
reading voice allows for higher reading speeds.

If you have a problem seeing books through to completion, with the final result
being a stack of unfinished books, one effective idea is to limit yourself to a
small selection of books at any one time. You then cycle through this small
selection and do not begin another book until you have a slot in your selection
space. Imposing a limit on yourself in this way strikes a balance between the
freedom of parallel reading and the discipline of focused reading.

It would be to your benefit to investigate the possibility of obtaining audio
versions of the books you have to read. That way, you can catch up on your
material while you are waiting in congested traffic, walking the dog, or dozing
off to sleep. Listening to those pleasant narrator voices can be a soothing
form of stress relief in itself.

Happy reading.

Frugal living is a way to simplify your life and to save money at the same
time. Although we do not expect you to sacrifice your motorcycle for a push
bike, there are no doubt plenty of expenditures in your life that you could do
without. For instance, can you really tell the difference between
brand-name toilet paper and generic toilet paper? Do you think the cockroaches
and other insects care whether you have dropped a few extra bucks on their
poison? Similarly, if you are not much of a gearhead, consider saving yourself
a few thousand bucks on the car you buy. Relax — we will not send you into
Volvo territory by reminding you that a car is a device to go from A to B. As a
final idea in frugal living, investigate whether you can use an Internet phone
or voice-chat software to communicate with your long-distance loved ones.

For finance, the first step in simplification is to pay off all your debts. Do
not spend wildly while you have debts accumulating; they will come back to
haunt you after you have had your thrills. You can simplify your bill payments
by arranging for direct debits. Ideally, you should have a separate bank
account for your direct debits so that your bank statements are simplified and
easy to follow. Then all you have to do is “feed” your secondary account from
time to time. You can also use the secondary account for your online purchases,
online sales, and online banking — doing so is probably safer than using your
primary bank account anyway.

Limit the number of people who have your cell phone number and other contact
details. This way, you will have fewer calls to handle. Free yourself of
stressful commitments by developing the assertiveness to say no to people when
you are not interested in doing something they would like you to do.

To save yourself from having to do a lot of extra work around your home or
apartment, limit the amount of washing you have to do by wearing some of your
clothes two or three times. Iron only dress shirts and pants — the rest is a
waste of time, and no one will be able to tell the difference anyway. If you can
afford one, buy a dishwasher to automate another tedious chore.

Among the many ways of simplifying your online life, you can use RSS feeds to
simplify your Web surfing. These will let you know when your favorite sites
have updates, eliminating the need for manual checking. If you are an email
addict, consider limiting the number of emails you initiate. (You thought we
would say the number of emails you reply to, right? Hey, we are not that rude!)
Also, unless the emails you receive are matters of urgency directed to your
superhero business, you can probably limit yourself to checking your email only
once or twice a day (morning and night). Better yet, download a free
email-notification utility that will let you know when you actually have email.

Get rid of unneeded books, clothing, furniture, and other freeloaders
around the home. Consider donating your used clothes to a charity or a homeless
hostel. Sell your unwanted junk on eBay — one popular saying assures us that
what you consider junk, another may consider treasure. Tidy up your desk and
bookshelf so that you have only the essentials of business and pleasure.

Two books that you may find inspirational are Walden, by Henry David Thoreau,
and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, by, well, Benjamin Franklin. One
book that may change your life is Getting Things Done, by David Allen. Allen
suggests that the first step for effective living is to transfer all your “open
loops”, or things to do, from your mind to an advanced system of activity
management. Indeed, the simple act of unloading a huge to-do list from your
memory to a piece of paper reduces stress immediately.

The first thing you could do (should do) is take a first-aid course. You never
know when an accident or injury could strike either you or someone around you.
Having the skills to handle common emergency situations could mean the
difference between life and death. Virtually every local hospital can point you
in the direction for obtaining a certificate in first aid. If you are still not
convinced, consider that employers value first-aid skills quite highly.

The second thing you could do is take an advanced-driving course. If you have
never heard of an advanced-driving course, it is a program of behind-the-wheel
instruction for learning many emergency driving techniques that you may not
have picked up when first learning to drive.

The third thing you could do is take a course in basic automotive repair. You
never know when you could find yourself stranded along some desolate highway,
in a state of panic because you are unaware that there is a simple fix for your
car that can get you going again in an instant.

The fourth thing you could do is learn survival skills. There are people out
there who would be more than happy to teach you the tricks of survival,
bushcraft, tracking, and so forth. You may never find yourself in a jungle, but
the awareness you gain as a result of your study will help you throughout life
in more ways than you can possibly imagine.

The fifth thing you could do is sign up for an army boot camp. Many national
armies offer their fellow citizens a taste of army life by holding regular boot
camps. Who knows, you may even find yourself signing up to the defense forces
for a rewarding full-time career.

The sixth thing you could do is take a self-defense course. Krav Maga is a good
martial art that offers rapid gains in combat skills. After starting out with
Krav Maga or another self-defense program to get your feet wet, you could move
on to train in the mixed martial arts, including Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay
Thai. By studying the martial arts, you would know that you have a chance of
surviving an otherwise fatal street assault or mugging.

The seventh thing you could do is ensure that you have a quality
health-insurance policy. Life insurance may also be on the table if you have a
family to support. In fact, having as many kinds of insurance as your budget
allows — car insurance, home insurance, health insurance, life insurance — is
considered sound practice.

The eighth thing you could do is ensure that your home and property are
protected by locks, alarm systems, and other security measures. Some companies
will even install CCTV surveillance equipment throughout your home for
competitive prices. Although it is possible to go overboard into James Bond
land, nothing terrifies potential burglars more than signs of a vigilant
homeowner.

The ninth thing you could do is create a list of all the monthly, half-yearly,
and yearly medical visits you should make: dentist, optometrist, general
check-up with blood test, skin checks (particularly for those at high risk of
skin cancer), immunizations, and so on.

The tenth and final thing you could do is join an improv class or a stand-up
comedy class. Learning to laugh at your ups and downs is often the best form of
preparation for dealing with potential stressors!