re: Achieving peace and tranquility

As soon as I step away from my job, I don’t even think about it anymore until I start getting ready for bed the night before I go back.

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Any tips or suggestions to find personal peace and to counteract anxiety? Religion? Pharmaceuticals? Exercise? What tips do you have, if any?

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LONG VERSION:

What stresses and anxiety levels I’ve experienced and what helped the most:

I’ve dealt with severe depression and anxiety since my first memory as a child. Panic attacks from stress that I think I’m gonna die every time I have one. All that led to severe addiction that Ive fought for over 20 years. Insomnia is debilitating.
Abandoned going to psychiatrist because I started to realize I had a trauma as a child that my brain blocked off from my memory, I guess to cope, and why I don’t have memory before a certain age even though I was old enough to go to school. I had decided to never go back because I’m scared of finding out what traumatized me so extremely. PTSD is probably what I’m experiencing. Suicidal thoughts were not uncommon with one attempt.
General physicians have had me on every medication that I know of but wasn’t ever successful because I couldn’t achieve immediate relief other than Xanax or Lorazepam.

But I recently tried cold shower therapy. Sounds ridiculous. It was brought to my attention in a YouTube video about a guy named Wim Hof. It led me to looking into more videos with people that tried the cold shower method.
Just take a freezing cold shower at least once a day. It is miserable and I dread it every single time but the feeling when I get out is worth the suffering.
First one immediately ended a serious episode of depression and stress.
Just as others had claimed, I felt like nothing I faced that day was gonna be too difficult.
My confidence was sky high.
I felt like a new person and literally forgot I was depressed and stressed out a few minutes earlier.
I went on and had the most relaxing day of work with energy that I didn’t knew I had. I was happy all day and smiled all day.

I continued this everyday even though I dread getting in every single time. You do adjust and becomes a little easier but it’s still a challenge stepping in every time.

It reduces stress and anxiety because you are so focused on that cold arse water hitting you that your brain doesn’t have time to have any other thoughts or mind racing problems.
Somehow it trained my brain to realize those stresses and anxieties don’t matter. Yesterday doesn’t matter and neither did tomorrow. I’ve learned to live in the present moment.

But I I recently thought I could take one day off and that led to another day and another. Addiction showed back up and I lost my way again.

But a few days ago I got a reality check and realized I had stopped the cold showers and even showering at all.
Back into the cold showers again and I’m back at peace with myself, fortunately.
And I’m ready to go back to therapy to deal with whatever childhood trauma occurred to me. I have always been too scared to find out what happened and thought it’s better to not know. Now I’m ready to put whatever it is down and get past it to prevent future problems.

I highly recommend this for anyone that needs help since a person with my degree of mental issues was helped tremendously.

TL/DR - Take a cold shower everyday to cure everything mentally and even your overall health. Watch Wim Hof on YouTube to understand the benefits.

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. I now own an average 1200 sq ft log cabin on 50 acres in the rural mountains of Vermont with my 2 Cane Corsos growing and raising a lot of my own food and have been learning how to grow some high quality Ganja.

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as you said happiness is different for everyone. I’d submit however that the above is how man was meant to live and it is the modern plugged in urban world that is the anomaly

As I’ve gotten older I’ve learned to appreciate the small things. Playing with the dog. Sitting on the porch with an iced tea. Playing cards with the old man. A good book. Enjoy nature’s free gifts. I love things like that more than ever.

Don’t sweat the small stuff. 99% of the time it’s not worth the energy holding grudges. Stuff like that you’ll learn as you get older.

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Recognize your choice in the matter (ie, stress is a choice...if you can pick it up then you can put it back down...and you should)

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It really is, even though it doesn't always seem that way. I try to remove emotion from my work. Even though the situation itself may be a type of conflict, it is not my personal conflict. Unless a work situation directly affects me or my family, it doesn't get to live in my personal space.

Having kids was the game changer for me. It brought tremendous peace and clarity. My life was fundamentally no longer about me and I found that frankly liberating. I let go of a lot of my own neurosis.

I don’t always chose this option because I’m very flawed, but that really was the first domino to fall for me realizing man is happiest when in service of others. Do nice things for other people and do hard things for other people. Volunteer. Make your community better. Spending a Saturday in service to others will make for a happier Sunday every single time.

Just day trade baw

It’ll be really good for your mental health

I do a few things:
1. No email on my phone. If work doesn’t want to compensate me for working 24/7 then I won’t do it. Additionally, email is usually side noise that distracts from the basics of your job.

2. I work my tail off when I’m at work. But I take my lunch break and do something else like a quick workout, hit balls at the range, shoot my bow, ect. It takes the mind off mid day. That is huge.

3. When I get in my truck I quit answering calls and listen to something to take my mind off of it. Podcast, music, LSU sports talk, ect.

4. I workout before work. Works wonders for sleeping. If you can’t sleep be at the gym at 445 am. You won’t have sleeping problems after a week of that.

5. Read the Bible in a year. Realize that he is in control and our only responsibility is to live in a way that brings him glory. He is in control. This is where true peace comes from.

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No email on my phone.

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This is a great one and changed my life. One day a few years ago I was at the pool on a Sunday and checked my email. I had no less than a dozen nasty emails from my boss and I got bummed out. My wife said why check that shite, if they really need you they have your phone number and will call. I’ve never checked my email on weekends again.