How do you destress?

13

Replies

  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    Could just get a cortisone shot and get back to running.....
  • JetJaguar
    JetJaguar Posts: 801 Member
    I'm another gamer (PC), though I tend to rotate through a lot of different games. Right now I'm back into Elite: Dangerous, a space flight sim. It's an open-world MMO sandbox game with no real story line, you create your own story. If you want to shoot things up, you can. If you just want to fly around and chill, there's the entire Milky Way Galaxy to explore. If you want to bore yourself to tears, you can mine some asteroids. :smile:

    Whenever I need a small break/distraction during the day, I've also been using the Duolingo app on my phone to learn Spanish.
  • lalalacroix
    lalalacroix Posts: 834 Member
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Phirrgus wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Call of Duty Blackout

    Whoever woo'd this must be a Fortnite player.

    @Carlos_421 I actually laughed out loud. I'm not an FPS player except for Doom, but I figured recommending Dark Souls and Sekiro probably wouldn't do much for relieving stress :D

    edit: OP I've learned somewhat to ask myself just how important is it and what I can do about it right now. It's not hugely popular these days but prayer and meditation, time away fishing hiking, a good book and/or a hot shower or bath...all do wonders for me.

    The bolded are all great in my book, as well.
    Aside from lifting (honestly a great stress reliever for me), I also enjoy just walking the dog, watching my bird feeders and I have something like 14 fish tanks that I enjoy watching and working on (I've converted my garage to a fish room/man cave).

    I used to have a lot of fish tanks once. I even kept a breeding tank for my convict cichlids who kept getting all their eggs eaten. Having many tanks is a really awesome hobby! Thanks for reminding me that I want this again. 🙂
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Phirrgus wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Call of Duty Blackout

    Whoever woo'd this must be a Fortnite player.

    @Carlos_421 I actually laughed out loud. I'm not an FPS player except for Doom, but I figured recommending Dark Souls and Sekiro probably wouldn't do much for relieving stress :D

    edit: OP I've learned somewhat to ask myself just how important is it and what I can do about it right now. It's not hugely popular these days but prayer and meditation, time away fishing hiking, a good book and/or a hot shower or bath...all do wonders for me.

    The bolded are all great in my book, as well.
    Aside from lifting (honestly a great stress reliever for me), I also enjoy just walking the dog, watching my bird feeders and I have something like 14 fish tanks that I enjoy watching and working on (I've converted my garage to a fish room/man cave).

    I used to have a lot of fish tanks once. I even kept a breeding tank for my convict cichlids who kept getting all their eggs eaten. Having many tanks is a really awesome hobby! Thanks for reminding me that I want this again. 🙂

    I've gotten into breeding plecos. love it!!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,846 Member
    Machka9 wrote: »
    BeezBeez wrote: »
    At a certain point, if all the the above is not helpful in reducing your stress at the end of the day, you might have to look at eliminating the sources of your stress. Sometimes jobs, relationships, home lives, or schedules are literally too stressful to continue. Try identifying those changeable sources of stress (with the help of a therapist, if you want) and make a plan of small steps to remove/reduce them.

    You know, thanks for saying this. Anytime you Google "how to relieve stress" or something similar, every article tells you to get some exercise, eat healthy, and try meditation, but nothing ever tells you to evaluate your life choices or dares to suggest that maybe you just need to get a divorce or something. I know some of what's stressing me out is just unavoidable life growing pains type stuff, but there is also some stuff I need to address head on and actually sit down and come up with a solution for. And I know that, but thank you for saying it and not just recommending yoga to me again.

    Sounds like you might be in the same "place" as me.

    I work fulltime, am a post-graduate student at university, and am my husband's carer. We were a great partnership, enjoying life and long distance cycling and travelling together. Then in March 2018, he had a workplace accident which resulted in a Severe Traumatic Brain injury. He was in a coma for 3 weeks, PTA for an additional 5 weeks, and was finally discharged from hospital into a rehabilitation program in July 2018. He continued the rehab program until October. He's out of rehab now and is making a "remarkable" recovery, but there's still a long way to go. So many medical appointments. And suddenly I became both of us. Because it is a workplace injury, that adds a whole other layer of stress to the situation. And our long distance cycling is not possible anymore.

    So, the last 14 months have been ... something else.

    And the last thing I need is even more to do.


    This blog: https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/31-ways-to-reduce-stress-in-your-life/ provides 31 ways to reduce stress in your life.

    My life is fairly high stress, so I thought I would take a moment to glance through the list.

    Some are all right like 1. Go outside. Fresh air and nature have been shown to reduce stress and anxiety. Yes, I find that walking down to the beach after work is something that helps.

    But most of the rest add things to a person's schedule. Yes, I'm a little bit cynical here.

    4. Get a massage. ... Who has the time??

    [snip]

    Sorry to hear about your husband's STBI. Glad he is doing much better. My sister's father-in-law is fully recovered from the one he had years back - it was an amazing recovery.

    Re massage - when my OH was his mother's caretaker I talked him into regular massage. We did not live together at the time and he got it on his way to come visit me. When we moved in together, we started having the masseuse come to us. This cost the same, and was way more convenient, plus it is so nice to have a massage right before bed.
  • BeezBeez
    BeezBeez Posts: 41 Member
    edited May 2019
    nowine4me wrote: »
    Could just get a cortisone shot and get back to running.....

    I've gotten a couple cortisone shots and no, I'm still not back to running. I'm barely back to walking, some days. Thanks, I'll let my docs handle this one.

  • skelterhelter
    skelterhelter Posts: 803 Member
    I vent to my friend. She must be so sick of my complaining lol. Also, I listen to relaxing ASMR videos on YouTube to help me sleep. Works wonders.
  • tccroston
    tccroston Posts: 34 Member
    SCUBA was an awesome stress reliever for me. I was a volunteer diver at the aquarium and just loved blowing bubbles on a weekly basis. It was better than therapy, not to mention the occasional interaction with some incredible animals.

    Obviously, that would require proper training and not a way for everyone to relieve themselves of the stress they’re experiencing.

    But I haven’t been in the water in a while, and now when I’m stressed, I put on some “zoning” music, and try to figure out where the stress is coming from. Like others have mentioned, it could be thrust upon us from something outside of our control. Medical issues, job related, and life can just throw us curveballs from time to time.

    Venting can help too. Don’t hesitate to reach out and talk to someone!
  • Bioluminescentbeachh
    Bioluminescentbeachh Posts: 25 Member
    I really like hot yoga, Pilates and going for hikes anywhere gorgeous. :)
  • Bruceapple
    Bruceapple Posts: 2,026 Member
    Ride a bike
  • Mov3mor3
    Mov3mor3 Posts: 96 Member
    Meditation and philosophy. Dialectical/Cognitive behavior therapy.
  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,108 Member
    After a really rough day only two things ever really help me
    1. Deep cleaning
    2. Getting on the heavy bag boxing
  • teranga79
    teranga79 Posts: 202 Member
    Assassins Creed :smile:
  • sammidelvecchio
    sammidelvecchio Posts: 791 Member
    Cleaning, for sure.
    Walking at my favorite parks
    Snuggling with my cat
    Sex
    Dancing
    Napping
    Doing something nice for someone else
  • kellyjellybellyjelly
    kellyjellybellyjelly Posts: 9,480 Member
    shaumom wrote: »
    When I have a hard time destressing due to physical issues that prevent dancing, exercising, etc... Here are things myself (or one of my kids who has physical issues) do -

    1. listen to music while playing a video game (pacman is oddly relaxing when playing nice music, LOL, and there are a lot of free online versions)
    2. Singing
    3. shooter video games where I get to kill something, on particular types of bad days.
    4. youtube videos that are often labeled 'weirdly satisfying compliations' or the like - just oddball things that actually often do help the body just feel good.
    5. Exercises where I lay on my back and do a lot of crunches type exercises, or on sides and do leg lifts, or on front and do things to lift back or shoulders up - usually until I am utterly exhausted, if it's for stress relief

    Definitely have to second singing. I find when I'm really stressed that going onto Youtube & looking up karaoke/instrumental tracks usually will lift my spirits a bit. When I'm really stressed/angry at work sometimes listening to music on Youtube will work.

    When I'm stressed/tired getting a bath & playing a few games on my iPad will have me feeling destressed after awhile.
  • AwesomeOpossum74
    AwesomeOpossum74 Posts: 106 Member
    Anything that completely distracts my mind from the stressful issue. By distract, I mean ... I completely forget about the problem. Something I need to concentrate on. Like woodworking or maybe an intense video game.
  • spilledmilk
    spilledmilk Posts: 83 Member
    Weed.

    It's legal where I live, I can just order it on my phone and get it delivered lol. Perfectly healthy de-stressor, and without the calories of alcohol.
  • BeezBeez
    BeezBeez Posts: 41 Member
    mollroch wrote: »
    Eat... or ski in winter... as I primarily do the former, need something in summer-- thinking mtn biking... that is the plan for this summer

    Yeah, the stress eating thing is haaaard. Eating and drinking have been my crutches and that really needs to change! Since I first posted, I've been doubling down on my rowing accompanied by loud music and so far that's working a treat! Thanks, everyone, and please keep the suggestions coming!
  • Vanyahiril
    Vanyahiril Posts: 89 Member
    -Long walk with the dog, who doesn’t care how much I complain and vent.

    -hot cup of tea, a good book, & a cat (or dog)

    -scream

    -listen to loud music & sing and dance like a fool.