Don’t know that there’s some magical solution to dealing with stress. There are a lot of things I’ve tried. Some seem to work well for me. I’m feeling less stressed these days, just wish my IBS would agree with that…
I tried meditation a while back using an app on my phone. At first, it seemed to help. But then I got bored with it! Interestingly enough though, I actually use those breathing techniques randomly when I can’t sleep or something has really stressed me out.
Listening to music certainly helps me a lot. It drowns out my stressful thoughts. And a lot of the songs on my playlist tend to inspire me and give me hope for the future. Some of them just make me sing and dance!
I’ve been going to the gym now for a couple months. Reminds me to push through the pain, physically and mentally. Plus it does your body so much good, it’s even meant to help me with my headaches. Can’t believe it, but if I don’t have time to go to the gym for a few days, it really bothers me. Highly recommend working out for dealing with stress!
One solution is just talking about it with someone you trust. When I was going through my separation, I was able to talk to a therapist. It certainly helped a lot and I’d do it again if I needed to. But it wasn’t cheap and I felt like my time with her was done. The problem though for a lot of us is we don’t have anyone to talk to. For the last few years, my good friends in Canada seemed so far away and I didn’t have anyone here in Australia. So I just kept everything bottled up. But since my last visit back home, I’ve been keeping in touch more with them all. I really think that will help too.
I had one of my most stressful days ever at work last week. My daughter is struggling with her own anxiety, especially when she stays at my place. But I don’t feel stressed out about those things for the most part. I have those moments, but remember there’s so many good things happening now in my life. Want to get to a point too that I don’t need to smoke to relieve my stress, but that’s partly due to loneliness too.
Dealing with stress isn’t easy. Even though I feel better lately mentally, I’m actually really struggling with my IBS symptoms. I haven’t changed my diet, so maybe the stress is still sitting there. Would love to know of any other ways people out there deal with their stress. Maybe my full body massage this week will help… 🙂