Stress Busters!

By: Erin Rose Hennessy

None of us are strangers to stress – even those who seem to lead the charmed-est of charmed lives have stress. I thought I would share some of my favorite ways to release stress.

1) Meditation This is a routine I practice every single morning. Before I even leave my bedroom, I roll out of bed and spend between five and thirty minutes stretching, doing a few yoga exercises and then meditating. I go through my day, ask myself if I have any concerns, and finish up with a visualization. Lately, I’ve been taking a visual walk along a river bluff. It looks kind of like Minecraft-graphics!

2) Drink Tea I have two cups of tea in the morning and occassionally another cup or two in the afternoon or evening. I find that tea relaxes me and makes me more able to deal with the world. Know how some people on television shows are faced with a huge drama and will sigh and say (usually to the wall) “I need a drink.” That’s me – but I mean tea!

3) Go For a Walk I aim to go for at least four walks per week – two during the week and two on the weekends. I love nature and just being out in it and seeing the sights and breathing the fresh air is so relaxing. We live near a river bluff, so one of my favorite places of course, is to walk down to the river and just watch the water flow.

4) Write Yup, it’s a stress-buster, too! Getting my emotions and feelings out on the page helps me vent my feelings in a safe way and helps calm me down. I’ve always loved to write and it’s always been an activity that I’ve been passionate about making sure is fun for me.

5) Take Cleansing Breaths and Relax Your Tongue I thought it sounded ridiculous, too. But just making the conscious effort to take five deep breaths and drop my tongue to the floor of my mouth kind of triggers my brain to relax, too.

6) Cooking For me, spending time in the kitchen is one of my favorite activities. I love making much-loved recipes and trying new ones, too. The act of doing something with my hands helps keep them busy, too.

7) Watch a Treasured TV Show I know, I know, I love TV. Those of you who know me – I saw you roll your eyes! But just relaxing on the couch with my cat and spending some time with the Halliwell sisters, the Gilmore girls, and the mystical Buffy cast makes my mood much, much happier!

8) Take a Warm Lavender Bath I love the scent of lavender so much that I make sure I have a supply of lavender bath salts in the bathroom. If I’m feeling particularly out of sorts (or even if I just feel like it), a soothing lavender bath calms my nerves and I’m off to bed much more easily.

9) Legos I love to build and map things out so it comes to no surprise to me that I love Legos! Spending even 20-30 minutes building a new house, remodeling an existing one, or even organizing my Lego pieces makes my stressed out “Judger” brain much more tranquil.

10) Eat Chocolate When all else fails, I have a couple squares of dark chocolate or a glass of Nesquik. Chocolate has never failed, right?

What do you do to de-stress? Feel free to share in the comments!