We have arrived at a time of great stress.  Stress is largely caused by situations over which you have little to no control.  Such as upcoming law school exams.  Such as a global pandemic that seems to be getting worse rather than better.  Such as the end to a turbulent election cycle.

These things weigh on us because we can’t really control them.  We can only control how we react to them.  You can’t control what your exams will be like.  You can control how you prepare for them.  You can’t control how the Coronavirus will progress.  You can control how much you stay home, wear a mask, and wash your hands.  You can’t control how the election turned out.  You can control how much you tune in to overly political news and opinion pieces.

Money is another thing that causes stress for a lot of people (usually because there never seems to be enough of it).  How much money comes in and when is not always something we can easily control.  We can, however, usually control how much goes out.  We have the ultimate say in how much we pay for housing, transportation, food, and entertainment (among other things).  A well-organized spending plan can help you to make sure that your outgoing funds are less than your incoming funds…and that any extra is safely tucked away for those unexpected emergency moments.

Life is full of stressors—things that we just can’t control.  The world is very uncertain right now. But in times of great stress, it’s important to focus on the things that you CAN control, which should ultimately ease that stress.