How do you deal with stress?

[Lsquiggles]

Life has felt increasingly more stressful over the last year and I feel like I could explode due to how stressed I am about every mundane thing in my life

How do you deal with stress? How do you take yourself out of a stressful moment and ground yourself? I'm very hot headed in nature and can go from 0 to 100 very quickly but I'm sick of feeling overwhelmed everyday - help!

How do you deal with stress?

Badly and, in the current situation, it’s getting a lot worse. When I’m feeling so totally overwhelmed I could explode I take propranolol. It makes me feel a lot calmer and everything more bearable.

Going for a walk. It clears my head and I always feel better on my return than when I set out.

Focusing on doing things I enjoy each day. Watching a sitcom I’ve loved for years. Eating a nice lunch. Reading before bed. Little comforting things. Not focusing on the news or worst case scenarios.

If I’m really feeling panicked I’ll do the breathing technique from hypnobirthing. 4 counts in and 8 counts out.

I don’t know if any of that will be helpful but wish you all the best coping with stress. Hope you feel a bit better soon.

In the moment: breathing techniques, speak to someone, step outside, positive affirmation statement eg. 'I can do this'

Generally-- exercise,especially running, escape into a good book, cooking from scratch, not much alcohol. Very rigid bed and waking times. Fairly good diet but not without treats. Listening to music I love. I have some fave song lists on Spotify. A mad tidying spree sometimes works too as I feel more in control and love a clear space.

Like pp have said it does help if you live near a lovely location which you can visit. River, beach, park.

Cleaning something. Breathing exercises. Watching something or listening to a song you really like. Speaking to a friend. Nice drink. If you're feeling overwhelmed take a few minutes by yourself. B vitamins might help.

As others have said above, regular self-care helps.

Also the source of the stress. Is it something out of your control? This can be much harder to deal with. I'm not terribly hot-headed (helped I suspect by not having a hot-headed family either - even the DC are pretty chilled), but if I fear I'm about to say something in the heat of the moment that I might regret, then I take myself away.

But normal self-care - enough sleep (regular bedtimes), a good diet, regular exercise, treats, whether it just be a bath alone watching something or reading a good book, or a weekend away with friends.

Trying not to sweat the small stuff.

There's a great 4 part series on BBC at the moment (and on iplayer) called mindful escapes. It is a mindfulness programme with lots of stunning and peaceful natural history scenes. It calms me down instantly and has an almost hypnotic effect- highly recommend trying it!

I'm nhs so generally come home very stressed - I knit. It immediately relaxes me, I stick a film on in the background and make something really beautiful or satisfying like a chunky wool throw for my sofa out of brightly coloured wood.
I also make dollshouses and all the little furniture kits in 1:24 or 1:48 scale.
Crafts are quite addictive and they totally take your mind off the stress unless of course the cat decides to be part of the action.
If I'm too stressed to knit I'll lie down and put a youtube storm, rain or snow in a cosy chalet with a woodburner video on and the curtains drawn and that makes me feel better immediately.

I'm a bit ruthless about what I'll say yes to / take on now as I realised a lot of my stress was caused by others.

In the moment, I step away and try and get the feeling out of my body. Sometimes this means sitting in silence, sometimes it's doing something physical but mindless (like cleaning the kitchen while I'm WFH), sometimes it's having a little cry.

Longer term, I try and get a decent amount of sleep. I give myself allowances for a bad day and don't worry too much about them. When everything feels a bit overwhelming I try and make myself think of the good things (family, friends, my dog).
I also crochet and cross stitch which keeps my hands busy and my mind off things - I actively carve out time to do these things (along with a walk, a bath time to sit and watch something I find relaxing on tv). Knowing that this evening I'll be watching tv and cross stitching means that my stress right now is manageable.

Emotional Freedom Technique and yoga. I've never come across a better tool than EFT. I was really sceptical about it but it works. It's actually used by AA to help alcoholics. There are tons of guided videos on YouTube.

I sleep. Probably excessively. 😣