Life is full of stressful situations. How do you cope with moments of stress? Any techniques? Any advice?
Recently I bought a new house which reminded me that buying a house is one of the most stressful situations you can put yourself in. I struggled a bit with certain aspects of it. I do a couple of things: mainly I just try to breathe, in and out through my nose. I’ve even started getting yoga a bit. In times of stress I’ve always found it incredibly helpful.
What about you guys and girls? How do you manage stress?
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71 responses to “Off Topic: Coping With Stressful Situations”
Get a stress induced migraine then have a loud and public meltdown.
Hey, I had one of these last friday, almost tore my superior a verbal new one for being inept!
edit* These occur often enough I have a stash of migraine tablets in my locker, it doesn’t help I hang on to anger and slowly stew it over in my head making matters worse. I think have a problem
I punch people in the face with lots of violent cuss words.
In my imagination.Listen to Taylor Swift, crack a 600mL bottle of pepsi max or sit outside and pat my dog.
If none of those options are available i cry.
works every time.
Amen, brother. Dogs are so good for stress-relief. Unless your stupid bloody lovable naughty rescue dog is causing the stress by wrecking the screen door… I mean, no, they’re good, they’re good.
Also, new Taylor Swift, eh, eh?
Its catchy. So freaking catchy. Its also not about a guy so i am so shocked.
I friggin’ love it. (I hate the gym and working out, so I just dance to this a bunch lately and am like, “Phew, aerobics was great last night!” at work.)
It’s literally about dealing with negativity/stress, too, so it works in this situation, also.
THAT IS GENIUS
go for a swim man. Find a nearby pool, and just start swimming laps. You’ll be so concentrated on your technique and breathing, that you just won’t have the brain-space to think about anything else.
also: congrats on the house! Welcome to the club. The first thing I did was go and hammer a picture hook into the wall without having to fill out a bunch of stupid fucking forms. It was so good I needed a cigarette afterwards.
Hahaha. My parter and I have a good savings for a deposit going. And this is EXACTLY what I’m gonna do to christen our first house.
I can think of other ways to christen a new house. 😉
😉You mean … doing the sex!?
:O
I write mean comments on the internet in regards to women.
If I’m stressed and find myself at the tipping point, I tend to hibernate. Absorb myself in a TV show, or write some music. Play games too, obviously. I’m usually right as rain after that 🙂
My body’s natural defence against stress: Flop sweat.
classic Teddy
I shoot people in the face, sometimes in a game.
Realistically I take the philosophical approach that very little genuinely matters and that does take the edge off a lot of stress. You do the best job you can with the tools you have, the stuff you can’t change you just have to adapt to and if anyone but you and yours have a problem, fuck em, they’re simply not relevant.
Have a bath?
Poorly
Sorry, this made me snort so hard. Ohhhh dear, hahahah.
ha, I came here to put “badly”. I know your pain.
I just bought another house, looked at it Saturday for the first time, put a lowball offer in on Saturday and it was accepted Sunday. Sooooooo stressed right now.
I usually play games to manage my stress but haven’t had a chance, been so busy trying to sort out finances and everything for this new place.
I’m way more stressed than usual, being at work doesn’t help.
It depends what kind of stress it it. Sometimes I go somewhere quiet (just, like another room) and have a little silent spaz about it (throw my arms around and go “arrrghhhh” without making any noise), and then I take a deep breath and carry on.
Sometimes making myself laugh is the best thing. I’ll listen to one of my favourite podcasts or a standup album I love and let that wash over me.
Jump on the piano and just play. Endlessly.
The weird thing is I seem to play best when I’m not actually thinking about what I’m doing at all, so it’s really great for just mulling over things that are on my mind. Plus being able to just smash some things out is a good stress reliever in and of itself anyway.
* Listening to music
* Rant in my journal
* Do sports & exercise (anything that can get you to sweat)
* Jacking off (what? try it)
* Keeping things in perspective…your situation may suck, and our country has faults, but at least we don’t have to worry about people killing each other or shooting down planes due to religious or political beliefs. You’re (most likely) not starving, you probably have 3 meals everyday and then some…things can be A LOT worse.
Can attest to the house stress; our first has had a few unforeseen (even by the rubbish building inspector) issues that have made money a stress creator as well.
I’m naturally pretty calm, it take a lot to make me crack but my wife is a constant stressor. Sometimes its hard to tell a stressed person to just “Stop being stressed”. I just tend to not let things get to me, in the grand scheme of things if something isn’t going to kill you, its not worth stressing too much over. Use the energy to come up with solutions to whatever is creating the stress.
Exercise.
Yoga (which is half exercise, half meditation, so deserves it’s own category)
Video Games (I often say to my wife “I need to go shoot something beautiful in the face”)
But then again, I also take a bucketload of meds each day that kind of stops me being stressed. One of the tablets tastes like candy. So I have that going for me, which is good.
that last line.
there is now coke in my work keyboard.
With self medication of assorted varieties.
Make inappropriate jokes.
Play video games.
Get drunk.
Me too, but in the reverse order lol !
Breathing+Exercise+Avoid Coffee+2 or 4 mg of Diazepam. Worked for my PhD confirmation so that should cover most things!
Play the hairy banjo.
http://tinyurl.com/khz2y4cYeah, I was just going to say ‘have a wank’ but you put it a bit more subtly.
If wanking is not available (and it is only rarely not available) then crying and or drinking are good too.
Breathing techniques, generally – an old habit from martial arts. Normally combined with occupying myself with some simple repetitive task that requires a bit of concentration. My Rubik’s cube collection seems to do the job – the more serious and preoccupying the stress, the more complex the puzzle I go after. Thankfully I’ve yet to encounter something bad enough to make me solve my gigaminx again… that thing takes hours.
I go to gym or go for a run or play tennis and just recently, i started ballroom dancing :). Nothing beats exercise to help with positivity. I’m attempting to deal with a seperation/divorce with my partner of 13 years and having a 20 month old boy so I’m having one hell of a stressfull period but smashing myself at gym/running/physical activity helps a lot.
I’ve tried everything over the years including relaxing, sleeping, holidays, diving into hobbies, shouting, venting to friends, physically hurting myself… but the one thing that gives me temporary relief is exercise.
I cope poorly with stress and negative emotions in general. But I find walking on the beach, barefoot in the shallow water is a nice activity and gets my mind off everything. Also, violent, chaotic video games like MK or GTA are incredibly effective digital punching bags. Blowing off steam with those games usually leaves me feeling really refreshed and happy.
Damn, it is too. I get into a sorta daze and spend time trying to kick the top of the water every single step etc. Plus water is soothing. And sand feels nice. And sun feels nice. Mmmmm..
And just watching the waves, fathoming the water and all the ripples and it’s shifting nature. It’s sort of hypnotic and numbing. I’ve most always been privileges to live a short walk from the beach.
God damn you beach people with your lovely weather and sand and stuff.
I’m stuck in the office and all I want to do is go to the beach now 🙁
http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_le5m4fvWL61qdac44o1_500.jpg
Power metal, mindless games that don’t require thought and aren’t frustrating, or creating something at my sewing machine. Those are my personal go-tos for stress relief.
Sometimes I find when it all gets too much that just going for a quick walk outside really helps as well.
Edit: Oh, and combining that walk with Power Metal can pretty much beat anything.
The Wolf of Wall Street has an excellent solution for this. NSFW though so watch the movie.
I recite the desiderata, it helps to remind me that these things pass and that in the end (for me atleast) things tend to work out good. If they don’t work out then it probably was not meant to be anyway……..
and if that doesn’t work, recite the necronomicon
Just don’t forget the words !
Hide in the bathroom. Well, more just sit on the loo and not think about things.
I cope with stress by going off my trolley with copious amounts of swearing.
Quit my job…that’s how I deal with it.
…oh wait, that’s how I’m ‘going’ to deal with it.
Think happy thoughts.
…oh and video games, they’re good to calm you down and the ultimate stress relief are my two little dogs.
I don’t get all that stressed these days, but the number one contributor is work. Not the job itself in general, but the people I deal with – academics… ugh.
My department (retail) lost 3 people in a day and so it was just me and my manager running the joint for a month and a half. Still had $20,000 budgets to make and our bosses were ripping our heads off.
Assholes e’erywhere.
Breathing and getting exercise are good, as well as eating good food (blueberries apparently have a calming effect) and staying away from stimulants like caffeine.
I find the best thing is to just distract yourself. Watch movies, play games, invent something, keep yourself busy. Anything to take your mind off whatever is stressing you.
I remember many sleepless nights during the settlement period when I bought my house. That shit is insane.
I mainly swear at people I see on the street.
Like..”what the f#*k are you looking at huh? f#*k off! .
Nah,J/K.
On a serious note,I think excercise is the best form of stress relief(sex included).
Endorphins are released during and after excercising which gives you that feel good factor that’s pretty hard to beat(ok,maybe sex tops it).
Video games usually failing that i set up my arcade basketball ring and have a few games. If that fails then i cry myself to sleep hugging my blankey and listening to lullabies.
Legit ways:
– At uni I had a sweet dorm room. Put a disco light in. Lights + alcohol + EDM make me chill.
– Music + games are good, specifically Dota-style game where you can listen to music and wreck house.
– Unreal Tournament 3 with the sound turned up to maximum is delicious. I usually laugh like a madman.
Revert to the familiar. Play an old game I’m really familiar with, listen to old music, watch an old movie. Revisiting the old gives me a sense of comfort at the same time puts my forward progress in perspective.
The thing I learnt to do was laugh like hell.
By that I mean, just laugh at it. The situation, the circumstance, just laugh. I find it funny when I stop to think about the circumstances or the situation, or the thing that got me stressed out.
Just find the humor in everything and laugh (even if its still kind of depressing).
Life will be easier and you’ll be happier the more you remind yourself to laugh like hell.
I listen to music while drinking too much. Clearly not helpful advice unfortunately.
Masturbate.
I call people shit on Twitter.
You do that when you aren’t stress as well
DONT STRESS ME OUT
I punched my desk. I now have a fractured wrist.
There’s a lesson in there somewhere.
Check out Kelly McGonigal’s TED Talk on stress: https://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend
I don’t really get stressed. To the point that I’ve been yelled at by my partner for not being stressed. If something goes wrong and I cant do anything about it, I just buckle down and ride it out. If I can do something about it, I will.
There are things that stress me out I guess, but they’re few and far between (and never with a migraine) . In those situations I just do what I always do, and play games.
EDIT: Grammar
take shoes off
take socks off
put feet on carpet
scrunch your toes repeatedly
and you thank god that Die Hard actually taught you something other than how to have a cool german accent
Step 1. Buy self a Kinder Surprise.
Step 2. Eat said Kinder Surprise and assemble figure.
Step 3. Open icy cold VB can (repeat throughout step 4 up to 10 times).
Step 4. Chuck on Predator.
I’ve got some major anxiety floating around and I’ve done the “buying a house” thing before. Congrats on that stress monkey (it’s worth it in the end)
The things I do to help with my stress:
– Run until I feel like my legs will fall off. I go to my gym, crank some music (blink 182 – “enema of the state” is a great album) and run until I can’t breathe.
– Writing out whatever is in my head. Just writing words, even if it’s just disjointed phrases and cuss words helps me a lot. then I print it out and throw it away.
– Vidja games. The pixels can deal with my rage.
– Robin Hood; Men in Tights. I watch it until I’m sore from laughing. I’ve been watching it for 15 years and it still splits my sides.