Stressed Out

Ever had the feeling that your head was going to explode? A moment where you just had to much thoughts and chaos in your head? Yeah, I guess you do otherwise you wouldn’t have clicked on this post ;).

I think everyone has had that feeling somewhere in their life. We just keep piling up physical, mental and emotional stress in our body without giving it the chance  to release this tension. This can lead eventually to over stressing which results in burnouts, depression and chronic fatigue. Lucky there’s this post on dealing with stress ;)

Cause

Visualizing the “Stress Bucket” ;). Retard-Proof

Imagine your body is a bucket. Let’s call it the stress bucket (+10 originality points). Well by working in overdrive, over thinking, over analyzing, locking up emotions and physical training you gradually fill up this stress bucket. And what happens when all this collective stress overflows your little stress bucket? Your body just stops working properly :s.

It is an absolute necessity to make time in our life to empty this bucket regularly if not daily. If we can do this it will ensure that our body keeps functioning properly  and our chances for depressions and burn outs will go down dramatically. And our bucket will gradually get stronger and bigger so it can cope with more stress in the future :)

So how can we do this? This can be generally the same for allot of people but the things I describe below are the ones that work very well for me :) Here are my top ways on how to deal with stress;

Practical tips on dealing with stress

• Meditation -> Great way to relax your mind and increase awareness.
• Shouting (in pillow) -> Release locked up tension by yelling your brains out :D
• Stretching and Yoga –> Locked up energy can also be released by stretching and doing yoga exercises according to the seven chakras
• Listening to soothing music
• Raising body temperature (bath, pillow, shower, blanket)
• Conscious breathing –> breathing consciously will lower the heart rate and relax your mind
• Long walks to empty your mind (exposing yourself to sunlight)
• Lying in a grass-field on a beautiful day
• Have sex! lots of it!
• Write journal/poetry/drawing. Any hobby that doesn’t require to much physical or mental effort.
• Drinking a warm beverage (tea, chocolate milk) stay away from coffee since that contains caffeine which will only increase your stress levels over time.
• Reading books (especially fantasy)
• Plan out a vacation! The one you’ve been dreaming of!
• Deliberately slow down. Slow down your pace in the street, chew slower, look around on the street. Look at the sun, the ground, the trees around you and the cars passing by.
• Communicate with your friends and family about petty mattes. Start a conversation about a random topic. They might blow you off but you’ll have had a good laugh :)
• Laugh -> watch comedy, cartoon, series whatever can make you smile :D
• Take some time off. Take a week completely off. Don’t take calls, open emails, think about it or talk about it.

Essence

Anyway these are some quick things I do when I feel burned out. They almost always empty my bucket and rejuvenate myself with new energy to tackle the things I want to do :) I hope you’ve found this post useful and are able to implement some of these into your life ! I’ve written another post on how to relax more fully titled 17 Quick Ways To Relax Your Mind (Besides TV)

Love
Simon