There are many tools available to help lessen stress. The most important tool at your disposal is your own mind. When you recognise for yourself that you are experiencing negative stress, that is the time to decide to do something about it.

Make a list of what techniques you already use.

How can you make time to do these activities more often?

What other techniques have you always wanted to make time for or try? (Look at the list created by other HRDs in the previous section – would any of those techniques work for you?)

Make a concrete plan for how you will incorporate more stress-relieving activities into your life.

Taking time for yourself to relieve stress is not a selfish self-indulgence. It allows you to work more effectively and to be more responsive to colleagues, friends and family.

Below are some tools and resources which you may find useful.

• Capacitar International – 'simple wellness practices' in the Emergency Response Kits available in Arabic, English, French, Russian, Spanish and other languages at http://www.capacitar.org/emergency_kits.html

• Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights, Front Line, and The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation: WHRD security strategies, Insiste, Persiste, Resiste, Existe, by Jane Barry with Vahida Nainar http://www.urgentactionfund.org/index.php?id=144

• Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights, sustaining the wellbeing of WHRD - What’s the Point of Revolution if We Can’t Dance? by Jane Barry with Jelena Đorđević http://www.urgentactionfund.org/index.php?id=157

If you are a HRD with a suggestion of a resource which could be added here, please contact Anne Rimmer at anne (AT) frontlinedefenders (DOT) org