What Do You Do When Your.....?

STRESSED

Serious question here guys & girls, stress IS a KILLER. Everyone experiences moderate levels of stress in their lives and to a point this is healthy; in the sense that it gives the individual an opportunity to manage pressure and also learn new skills, information in the process.

To a degree being stressed or more correctly; being tested allows you to discover who you truly are and how you cope with certain situations in life, a pretty important learning curve in my opinion.

However, there comes a point where an individual simply doesn't "see the light at the end of the tunnel" any more and can't cope mentally (which draws them down the path of not coping physically as they self medicate)

I know all the bog standards answers that you would receive from a GP i.e. exercise more, eat healthier, try and find ways to relax etc etc but I'd like to hear your personal thoughts on what YOU (yes you) do to relieve the pressure when things start getting a bit too much.

As a side note, I'm interested in how the mind/human body copes with things in general but if your wondering I've been a little "stressed out" recently and decided to write this thread.

Not a cry for help or for pity, would just like to hear your opinions.

Finally, do the majority accept that there comes a point when you simply can't tackle things successfully without outside intervention? If so, where and when do you draw this line?

Cheers!

Try completely changing your environment and 'Getting away from it all'. Turn your phone off and cut all contact with your usual world. Be around nature, observe and enjoy.

I wish you luck

I have read a while that just 5 minutes of being in the woods is good enough for about 4hrs of mental energy?

Not sure about amounts, but you know what I'm pointing at.

This is one of the reasons I want to get out of the city and into the country side.

To relieve stress I used to go fishing, nowadays a good book before sleeping does the trick too.

I'm not stress free, and will probably never be though, been through too much for that.

But it makes me handle stressful situations better, this is already a week of hell for me too, but I never give up the fight.

reply to post by Death_Kron


1st let me say I'm by No means a New Age'r or Tree Hugger [ not that there is anything wrong with either]

well I believe stress can cause acidosis
acidic environments are where cancer thrives

Recently I've started drinking shots of wheat grass
which alkalizes the blood [cancer can't survive in alkaline environments]
I believe this to also help calm plus gives energy ...

I've since started cultivating my own wheat grass...
and I feel Great...

good luck to you
& peace

There does come a time when enough is enough and if meds work, use them. Even then,it might not work well enough. I usually try to lose myself in a good book for a reprieve, go out in nature, listen to music, take a long relaxing soak in the tub, be around people you love. Good luck! HUGS!

It all depends on what you're stressed about and the kind of mood I'm in. Surprisingly I'm lucky enough to have a career that I love so actually being at work is sometimes relaxing. I also do enjoy video games. If I'm trying to get away from it all I love being an avid hunter and being in the woods

I have recently been putting myself into more and more stressful situations. Over my summer break, my plan was to immerse myself into a particular situation that gives me more stress than anything else in my life. (I mean like, stomach in knots for days stress).

This super-stress, on top of all the other stressful things I had been doing to myself, finally popped some kind of release valve in my mind, and I started getting really weird physical symptoms where I would just feel incredibly weak, like all the muscles had fallen out of my body, and I was just a bag of nerves. Weird, I know, but eventually it made me realize I might want to take a step back.

So, the things that have been helping me include working out. I try to work out for over an hour every day. (I find a bit of high-intensity coupled with weights every other day works well. And try the 'Insanity program' if you want to give yourself something to cry about at night.... but it will definitely take your mind off your troubles!).

Aside from working out, I've just been taking it easy and letting my mind kinda tell me what it wants to do for once, instead of me telling it to 'get in line and work like a machine', which is what I usually do.

I've found that my mind seems to really want to escape reality, because I've been reading and watching movies in two genres that are dissimilar from everyday reality: Science Fiction and some Classics set long ago. Its like I need to not only escape with books and movies, but I need this extra-super-duper escape by taking my mind to totally other worlds and times.

I've had / have a lot of stress in my life. I don't always cope with it very well, but even breaking down sometimes can be helpful rather than harmful. Just let it out.

Anyway, coping strategies:

One thing at a time - the right thing at the right time. Yes, I have sleepless nights, but it's important to understand that you can't deal with everything at once. You can't make important phone calls in the middle of the night, for instance, so best to make a plan for the morning and make sure you act on it.

Trust yourself. You've got this far in life and, presumably, you've nurtured the habit of looking after yourself properly? Keeping out of mischief, surviving mishaps? Seeing the funny side when the dust has settled? Well, keep on doing that

Handy trick I read somewhere. Think back to a year ago and try and remember what was stressing you then. Two years ago. Can't remember? Well, this time next year (or the next), how much are you likely to remember about what's stressing you now?

Baby steps. Don't try and tackle it all at once. As long as the steps are going in the right direction, see every little success as habit-forming. The more small victories you accomplish, the more you'll expect to succeed.

Come to ATS and find an entertaining thread. cough: monster stalking cough: Moths to a flame, innit?

My forms of escapism are computer games and long walks in the countryside. Being out in the fresh air and taking in the great and small works of Nature is very healing. You get a sense of your own insignificance on the one hand, and your part in everything on the other. If you're not near to any open country, try and find a place to watch a sunset.

Anyway, I'm typing this against a background of some lousy comedian yacking away on the TV. Now there's stress I'm just off to remedy the situation. Where did I put that axe?

Oh, outside intervention. If you can't manage to resolve an issue, get help. If it's the plumbing or something you need advice on, hire the right person for the job. It's easier to call in a handyman or go the the CAB than stay stressed because you've run up against something you can't cope with. That could well keep you away form the sort of intervention I think you were referring to.

Also, there's no shame in 'giving up' if a situation is so bad you can't handle it. Sometimes it's best to admit defeat and move on.

'You' for the purposes of this post means anyone other than me, not 'you' personally

reply to post by berenike


Thanks for everyone who has commented on this thread, believe me I've taken all your words into consideration.

But I have to hand it to berenike, brilliant advice there mate. Thank you very much and I'll definitely try to stick with what you mentioned, resonates with me on so many levels.

Once again, thanks all.

If it helps to keep the thread alive and offer a bit of support to other people then please keep on posting