What helps for me, is excercise, and the understanding of parents and gf.
Allthough I am used to the tinnitus they are aware of the sound I hear,
which I am happy about.

In that case, what helps for me (I've had tinnitus over thirty years)
is to take time to listen to it on occasion and notices the nuances of
the sound.  The more I Iisten, the more the sound seems to change and
become less annoying.  The most prominent benefit of listening is
reducing the stress associated with the sound.  It is always going to
be there -- sometimes louder than others.

What I find most interesting is that when I listen in a quiet area (or
without my hearing aid on) what initially sounds like a roaring
cacophony of noise gradually becomes a bunch of electronic type sounds
that my brain is trying to make sense of -- it tries to interpret the
sound as speech or music.  In a way it is really sort of fascinating.

Because tinnitus is a symptom of so many conditions and interactions,
I think in the early stages people should try to find a source if they
can.  Once it becomes apparent that there doesn't seem to be an easily
identifiable or fixable source, acceptance has to take place and this
is just my way of dealing with it.  

If one is in the early stages (less than a year) I would say to go to
an ENT that has a defined protocol for dealing with the early onset of
tinnitus, IMO.

Terri