Forums » Smalltalk » Advice (Stressed the frick out)

So I can’t remember if I made a post in the past like this or not. if I did, oops.


Anyways! There’s a lot on my plate right now and without going until detail, it’s stressing me out. What do you guys do to calm yourself? It’s been hard for me because it’s keeping me from sleep, and as of lately I’m overthinking everything. So hit me with y’alls advice

Well, some therapy apps, such as Wysa (which is primarily a therapeutic chatbot), come with various guided meditation and relaxation tools. It makes suggestions for which to use based on what you're trying to achieve.

I don't remember what it's called, but I also know there's a web page that's just a customizable breathing regulation tool. EDIT: Ah, right here: https://xhalr.com

As a person who suffers from anxiety, stress is nothing new, though I have a couple methods for handling stress, from listening to loud and upbeat music, going for a long walk/drive,meditation, or just making a complicated meal to keep my mind busy, basically I try to occupy my mind with something so that I forget about the stress.

Chill god here

Numero Uno thing you can do to de-stress is to take some me time, do what you like what makes you happy
Numero Dos thing you can do is to simply keep your mind off of the things that stress you, do something that you can get lost in and forget all of your troubles for a while
Numero Tres thing you can do is to vent, its not good to bottle up your stress, may this be talking to someone and just getting out all of your frustrations, or maybe even painting, or singing, or doing anything to just let your emotions out, cause bottling them up is something you do not wanna do

Good luck on your de-stressing
-Chill God out

ps. keep in mind that some of these may not work for you, stress is relative to the situation you are in and what kind of person you are, so if these dont work just keep trying and find something that works for you

You might also consider some kind of personal productivity system.

Personally, I'm a fan of the Kanban approach. It lets me offload everything in my brain that really does need done, but that might not be the top priority right this minute.


Though also maybe check out:

• Getting Things Done (GTD)
• Pomodoro Technique

If your stress is coming from (it sounds like) having a huge to-do list on your plate, then my suggestions are:

• Put on some de-stress music for these next few steps. For me, it's either 80s music or *demon voice* HEAVY METAL. Yours might be folk music or Ariana Grande or Heyeyeyeyeyeyeyeya meme music, who knows! Just throw on a playlist of your favorites and hunker down.
  
• Write down what you have to do in the broadest terms. Let's say you have six items on your to-do list. Write them down. Sometimes visualizing these things can really help us see "Oh, that's not as awful as I thought it would be..."
  
• Still stressing? Break these big tasks down into smaller tasks. Need to clean the house? Break it down! Vaccum the living room, Vacuum the bedroom, Do the dishes, Wipe down your counters, etc. etc. Break your task down into chewable chunks. This makes getting things done, at least for me, a lot easier, because I can look at the progress I've made and see what I still need to work on.
  
• Don't forget to take breaks where you need it! If after one task you feel really exhausted, sit down for 15 minutes and just chill. Play an app, read a book chapter, etc. etc., and after that break, get back to work. Don't force yourself too far in one day, but just do what you can every day to dwindle down your to-do list :>

Now, assuming I read the main post wrong, and this is more of an emotional stress:

• The music tip still applies. Personally, when I'm sad, I have a "Pure Happiness" playlist of songs that never cease to make me smile when I hear them or listen to folk music. If I'm angry or really stressed, I'll put on heavy metal and just let all my anger out through sick guitar riffs and drum solos. Put on something that will ease out your stress or calm you down.
  
• Write or talk it out. If you don't have someone you can vent to (which is understandable; Most of the time I can vent my stuff out, but sometimes there are issues you just can't talk to people about), write it out. Get a journal, whether it's a nice one, or just a crappy school level composition notebook, and just scribble out everything that's making you anxious. Just like making a to-do list, sometimes just getting these issues out of your brain and into a physical form can help take it off of your mind; Maybe it won't take it off of your mind 100%, but it usually helps to at least get what you're worried about into physical words rather than just a mind-loop of constant anxiety.
  
• This one is going to take practice, but if you're constantly finding yourself anxious, you have to tell yourself to stop. As someone who deals with anxiety (and used to be way worse about it), the best habit you can get into is when you realize you're overthinking something, just tell yourself, "Shutup. Stop. Don't let it control you," and move on to something else. Read, play a video game, do some art, anything that will distract you. Still thinking about it? Tell yourself to stop, force yourself to think about something else. This takes a bit and it takes work to form this habit but in the end, it'll be worth it because it makes life so much easier.

Also, everyone else on here seems to have some great suggestions, so take what I've said with a grain of salt if it doesn't work for you.

Thanks everyone for your tips, I’ll be sure to try them