List and analyse
If I was going to be stranded on a desert island, and could take only one luxury with me to help deal with the stress of finding myself alone in such a place, I would take a pen and paper. Writing things down is one of the best ways of objectively finding out just how bad your problems actually are, rather than how bad you imagine them to be. This can be done with any problem, no matter how large or small, at any time. When I was deciding whether or not to leave a medical partnership, this proved to be the key to making the right decision, and I still do it whenever stubborn problems bother me.
First, write down what the actual problem is as you see it. Below this, write a list of actions you need to take in order to sort it out. Next, list everything you feel you should not do, or which will make the problem worse. On a separate piece of paper, look at what is actually happening in your life as a result of the problem, and compare the two sheets. A number of possibilities will be apparent:
The first is that you have judged the problem perfectly. Your assessment matches what is happening in your life, and the answers are written in front of you. Therefore you need to do very little to sort the problem out apart from follow your instincts.
Second, you may have greatly exaggerated the situation. Although you feel there is a major worry in your life, the hard facts show there is not. This should put problems into perspective, and so reduce your stress when thinking about them. You should find this reassuring.

.Crisis Management
Third, there is a chance you have underplayed the situation. There is a significant problem that has been either ignored -deliberately or otherwise - or underestimated and urgent action is needed to turn it round. Financial stress often shows in this way, and listing money worries and solutions is the first thing bank managers and advisers do when faced with people's financial difficulties. Ignore the problem at your peril. Some people choose to, but at least, having made their list, they are aware of it.
Not all the things you write on the list will carry equal weight.When I was writing mine to decide whether to change jobs, the hard facts were obvious, but my key point on the 'should' list overrode them all. I wrote 'Because I want to.' Over a few days I kept looking at this list, and by the end of a week knew I had made the right decision. I needed to have all the facts of the problem in front of me, in order to know what I had to do and how badly I wanted to do it. At the end of the day it was my gut feeling that proved to be right, but it would have been dangerous to rely on this alone. Learn to look at problems in terms of what is happening and what you want to happen, and you will begin to solve them rather than be beaten by them.
Tackle problems by listing your options. Compare this list with what is happening in practice. Indicate how much (or how little) you need to change to solve the problem.

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