Get Perspective
Yes, your life is difficult, riddling you with stress and exhaustion every day. Get over it. The world is a tough place for everyone. You can either whine your way through life, stumbling over your tired, stressed-out feet, or you can learn to deal with it and become a happy person. Your choice.

To get a better idea of how your own pitiful existence stacks up against the woes of the world, try one (or more!) of the following:

Volunteer. Although you may think you don’t have the time, energy or inclination for altruism, you are wrong. You can find a few hours a week, one day a month, one weekend a year to do something good for someone else. If you don’t like people, help animals. If you don’t like kids, help old people or the homeless. The rewards are endless: you’ll love the warm tingly you get in your belly when you help a kid learn to read, but you can also add volunteer experience to your resume or grad-school application.

Take a walk. When you’re weary of the world and its problems, take a walk. Find a nice dog park, an interesting city street or a big, flower-filled meadow and cruise around for a half hour. You’ll get exercise, which is excellent for reducing stress, but you’ll also get a quick reminder that the world is not necessarily a bad place. Breathe deep, look around, and try to forget about your problems for a few minutes. You’ll end up refreshed, enlightened and ready to kick some butt.

Adopt the “2% Solution”. In a nutshell, this feel-good 1970s theory suggests that we only need to bother with about 2% of the stuff on our mental list of worries. As you find yourself stressing and obsessing about minutiae, ask yourself, “Is there anything I can do to solve this problem right now? If the answer is “no,” then forget about it. If the answer is “yes,” then do something about it. You’ll be surprised how much adopting this technique helps reduce your stress load.