De-stressing

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So I'm at work right now having a bit of a problem.

I sent an email to the university I attended inquiring about completing my degree. Just thinking about this caused my stress levels to go up. Actually composing and sending it pushed me right to the edge of a melt down. Now I'm so stressed my brain is getting foggy and I've got work to do.

I need to turn it down about 50 notches.

How do you guys relieve this kind of stress?

I usually go try to lose myself in something else like a movie where little mental energy is required, but even that does not always work.

Cleaning out piles of email that isn't junk but isn't useful seems mindless. I'll try that.

You might try breaking up your work into a list of small tasks to be done. Then you cross them off your list as they are completed.

I generally try to think it through logically so that the emotions do not overrun my day. If you think about it... "so what?" Who says you have to act on anything? All you did was ASK for some information. So what if you take a class or two as a result? You do not have anything to prove at your age and level of achievement. It is all just new adventures at this point...

I usually try that. But sometimes it happens so fast that it just blows up. It's something of a paradox. I can be very rational, at times annoyingly so to people around me. But sometimes something will get triggered and without volition the stress just explodes. Once that happens I swear my brain shuts down and what I really need is a nap. I can't even always know what might be a trigger or not.

At least now I know more about what is going on. Maybe I can be more proactive about potential stressors and come up with some innocuous ways to decompress. Usually the best thing when this happens is very strenuous exercise. But it's a bit awkward explaining to my boss a sudden need to run 5 miles.

Exercise and/or herbal/relaxing teas works for me

Along THESE lines.... Why do you think I play football and bodybuild? If I am sick or otherwise do not exercise, I have super high anxiety levels. As it is after a 3 hour practice on Saturday (all out full contact) and a 2 hour practice last night from 7:30-9:30PM, I am too pooped to get anxious even about the 4 hour body Language class I had to take this morning. Regular (proactive) exercise is better tha reactive stuff. If I find myself getting anxious despite this exercse. then I find a nice walk to do the trick. And if all that fails.... Vodka

LOL.

I would have to SHARE vodka.

Well to be truthful I tend to drink or get high and worry about it later.....or I might think about it while high and come to a more calm conclusion then I might while sober. Or sometimes its nice to get lost in some good music for a while.

They do random drug tests at my job. Getting fired for toking behind the building would be a bad outcome. Besides, weed makes my brain wig out. It's like every synapse fires at once. Truly a scary feeling.

I had that happen yesterday morning. It was 9AM when I realized I had missed my 8AM hypertension meds, and that "hour late" was really no big deal ... but then just a few minutes later I could not recall whether I actually had missed them at 8 and it was all I could do to keep from stressing myself into a heart attack over that overdose possibility right after I had taken them at 9.

I've happily discovered through yoga that the sound of running water calms me down. It relieves stress and pain, and it helps me sleep. So when I'm overwhelmed, I go into a dim or darkened place, put on my iPod and listen to the sounds of the ocean until I feel calm. If I don't have my iPod, I can just retreat into a washroom and run the sink water with my eyes closed. I need to hear that water. I'm fascinated by my reaction to this auditory stimulation.

It makes total sense because, for years, I've been running to the nearby harbor when I felt stressed out. I just didn't realize the one directly related to the other and could work just as well in similar forms. It really helps that I don't have to leave the house when I get overwhelmed.

Running water may not work for you, but if you find something that does work, USE it however you can.

If I can I'll go out to the store that has my favorite bottled beverage (things just DO taste different from a glass bottle than a plastic one) and pick up one, then read an article in one of the magazines I sometimes pick up about my hobbies while drinking it. Walking helps ease me into the more calm mood I'm going for, the walk itself won't do it, but I use it as an artificial transitioning device if that explains any. When that's not possible I do more socially acceptable stuff like a puzzle. Y'know, like sudoku, crosswords or logic puzzles. Focusing on fixing a well defined problem like that helps me. Numbers or letters go into squares according to certain rules, once they're inputted there will be one correct solution and that's totally dealable unlike so much world stuff.

Equanimity with stress. Let it come into the body, tell body to let it out. Let stressful thoughts and feelings come and go, recognise their presence, but don't allow them to 'take root'

A logical approach. What are the pros of stress? What are the cons? Helps support equanimity.

Breathing, calm, slow, full

Here's a simple way to eliminate tension; tense your whole body and then relax. Try and get every muscle fully activating. Or do them in sequences.

Distraction can work. Find something more compelling to be absorbed in.

If none of that works, hypnosis tapes. Hypnosis is great if you can't help yourself to relax. Have someone else help you.

Getting my chores done and listening to my music helps. Having a cup of black or herbal tea also helps.