re: Ways to relieve Stress

I’ve found there are two types of stressand it’s helpful to identify which one is the problem. The symptoms are the same but the solutions are different.

1) Are you stressed because of actual issues that are creeping up and you feel like you’re losing control of your life? The only way to solve this is to start tackling those issues. Anything else is just “escapism” and only serves to make this stress bigger as you ignore it. The funny thing is that dealing with this problems is much easier than it seems. The thought of it is much worse than just fricking doing it. I think we’ve all been guilty of sliding into this trap at some time or another.

OR

2) Are you generally handling everything OK but you’re just too wound up from dealing with everything and need to blow off steam? The solution to this is more personal, but it all gets to the same thing: you aren’t spending enough time and energy on yourself and need to carve out some time to be selfish and do something you enjoy. This could be anything from going to a museum by yourself, chopping down trees, going fishing, shooting guns at the range, floating in an isolation tank, building a computer from scratch, trying your hand out at baking bread, riding your bike, etc...

The key thing here though I think is not to find something you’d necessarily enjoy to do with a friend or your spouse or whatever. It’s great if they’d enjoy it too, but you need to have some space in your life to use your energy on something you find interesting and fulfilling, and not GAF about what anyone’s opinion is of it. Doesn’t matter if it’s building little model sailboats or spending time painting your toenails the colors of your favorite NFL team. Just always make sure you carve out some space to spend some time on you.


Note - it’s cool if you really want to spend that time watching netflix or dicking around on the internet, but first make sure that’s actually how you want to invest that time and it’s not just some lazy dopamine addiction you’re feeding like everyone else on here

If you have a lot of bills and work, when do you have time to watch cartoons?

As already stated in this thread, exercise is one of the best stress relievers. Spending quiet time outdoors is also very beneficial.

But since you asked for "creative ways": Take a look into sensory deprivation float tanks. Sports Illustrated recently did a piece prior to the Super Bowl about how the Pats, Saints, and Rams all have these float tanks in their facilities. They claim 45 minutes in the float tank gives them the equivalent of 4 hours of sleep.

It also appears to be backed up by a 2014 study on the effectiveness of the sensory deprivation tanks:

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Stress, depression, anxiety, and worst pain were significantly decreased whereas optimism and sleep quality significantly increased for the flotation-REST group.

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Since they have one in BR, I'm planning on giving it a try next month and throughout my high-volume/high-stress time at work over the summer. Last year, I ended up with a bulging disc in my neck and a strained levator muscle from carrying my stress in my back/shoulders, so I'm hoping this will help.

smoke a blunt outside on a warm, beautiful day. It’ll relieve your stress, and then go back on the grind

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Excerise

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Bingo. LOTS of exercise.

At some point you may have to eliminate the stressor. May be a job, may be a person but stress will fricking kill you.