What are your tips for relieving stress?

[Bluesky91]

Chronic stress. Stemming from :

1. losing 50% of our net worth in the last couple of years (500k). We now only have our equity in our house.
2. stressful job
3. unloved marriage (cannot leave. Pls no judgement here)
4. past trauma with harassment from inlaws. NC right now.

I feel a lot of stress in my face, losing hair and aging fast. I’m 42, probably perimenopausal too.

I joined a gym last week and started attending exercise classes 3x a week.

what is your go to thing or activity for quick stress relief?

Edited because I read the OP as 2 posts.
Since you can’t leave, I think exercise is a great start. Also as the weather starts to get better can you get out by yourself more for walks or runs? Maybe find groups to socialise with to give you more resources outside the marriage?

I find a long walk in fresh air with my dog works wonders, although I don’t have the stress you are experiencing. After my DH was ill in 2020, I do stress over his health. I no longer worry about money, we have enough, but don’t live extravagantly. We are retired early, but DH’s job was stressful and getting worse, so glad in that respect. I do love a long soak in the bath with a book or magazine, that also helps me relax.

Audible books or Drama from BBC sounds

Takes me to another place

Three minutes with my vibrator.

Exercise is all good and well unless you're too crippled by the stress to move

Lidl middle aisle is a welcome and easy stress relief especially if it's also a walk away so mistake to your audible on the way

Divorce

Duvet/ F*all days! (with a good book or box set.)

I have one every fortnight- it's bliss!

I'm a massive fan of ambient noise to calm me down. I love a thunderstorm or waves at the beach. It really helps to keep my own nagging out of my head.

Add that to a really good book and I'm happy as a clam.

I also love reruns of favourite programmes, especially The Office (US) and Peep Show.

Ok I have a lot that I do - I can't say I am a stress free human, and it definitely takes its toll on me physically, but I think if I didn't do these things I wouldn't be here/ able to function in any capacity. I have a crippling amount of stress which will be with me til the day I die, so I am having to learn to live with/ alongside it as it'll never be gone from me.

1. Talking therapy, religiously, every week (I appreciate this is expensive)
2. Cold water therapy - you essentially need to trigger your parasympathetic nervous system into action, as that is what promotes a sense of calm and wellbeing within you - cold water therapy is a way to do this, and you can literally do it in your shower
3. Running 3/4 times a week - I find the more painful it is, the better I feel for longer after (I am NOT a great runner, I creep along for 20 mins but that's enough)
4. Set aside three sessions a day (morning, noon, night) to do a few minutes of the 4-7-8 breathing technique (I do it in the shower, at my desk etc)
5. Audiobooks when falling asleep - this helps my mind settle faster so I'm better rested
6. Don't drink alcohol - it just isn't worth it as an anxious person, it really isn't
7. Take a magnesium supplement

hope this helps xx

Yoga - restorative, yin or yoga nidra. I’ve done enough classes so I can work through a few sequences on my own at home. Otherwise there’s loads of videos on YouTube.

Showers - I find these so good for resetting myself.

I have a desk based job, so find physical tasks like gardening hugely satisfying and relaxing.

I had a huge mental and physical breakdown around 8 years ago. I developed so many strategies to cope and build myself back up, but lately life has been pretty sh*t and I find it tough to do any of them. knowing what’s good for me is one thing, doing them is another.

Well done for exercising, that’s such a great thing for you to do - for body and mind. Sending love and hugs.

Sauna
Reading
Hot bath/shower
Massage
Facial
Hypnotherapy

Playing some feel good music... and then dance like noone is watching always gets the endorphins going for me! 😆

I'm no expert, but am trying to be less stressed after spending a year working in a toxic environment that has made me really anxious. I've changed job which has removed the immediate stressor, but am also aware that I need to ensure I don't stay in the anxious spiral.

Things that I'm doing:

• swim 3 times a week
• yoga class 1 or 2 times a week
• monthly back massage
• monthly aromatherapy facial
• Sunday long walk on the beach
• reading fiction (I use the storygraph app to keep track of my streak, which forces me to read a bit every day)
• gardening - I find growing things really relaxing as you have to slow down and pay attention to nature
• limit coffee to one cup a day, drink plenty of water
• try to eat sensibly (more veg, less cake) as it gives me more energy to keep up all the other habits.

This is brilliant...... what an inspiration for people struggling!

My DS’s are my main source of stress. I hide in my car and chain smoke.
Sorry, not very helpful I know and sorry you’re going through so much shit.

I think it is different for different people. My family are always encouraging me to “slow down, relax, spend a day chilling on the sofa, watch a movie, take a bath” but those things don’t work for me.

For me personally, exercise works much, much more than anything else. After that …cold water (ideally the sea - even for a paddle!), orgasm, gardening (cliched but true, although it needs to be with bare feet in the grass, bare hands in the soil), fresh cold air and a long view with sounds of nature (so remote beach/hill/mountain).

Good luck OP. I hope it gets better.

Aromatherapy (DIY - started with Aromatherapy for Dummies and have picked stuff up over the years)
Calm app
CBD

Sorry your having a shit time xx

Things that keep me a little more balanced.

Exercise currently 4 spin sessions, 1 bootcamp, two weight based and 1 HIIT class. I've decided to sign up for a 5k run in the summer so currently teaching myself to run.

I only drink when I go out with friends as it sets off my low mood usually.

Balanced diet

Keeping to a skincare routine

Regular hair colour as i look drained as it fades

I allow myself a few hours on the couch watching rubbish or reading. I'm not good at relaxing.

3 hot baths per week with bath salts

I drink a lot of water as I get sluggish

Love a walk near the sea. We are lucky where we live we can access easily. Alternatively country parks etc

Outdoors in nature.

Watching with interest as a chronically anxious/stressy person. I really identify with the poster above who doesn't find 'chilling on the sofa' relaxing (unless I'm unwell). Especially now I have a desk job where I'm sitting down far too much. I struggle with exercise but feel so much better when I manage to do it.

Only thing that really works for me is a regular night away. Once a month ideally, a night in a cheap hotel away from home and a day out, good walk, eating out, few drinks….

I’ve started to explore the idea of extreme days out, going a lot further for the day or a night away and think I am actually going to give it a go soon.

Mine is just work stress but it is all consuming.

Im another stressy person who doesn't enjoy an afternoon on the couch. I just get more anxious! I was ill recently and had a few days on the couch and i actually enjoyed it as i was ill and couldn't do anything and i realised this is how normal folk who dont get anxious, relax!

Pilates. My class is in the evening and during the warm up the teacher encourages us to lie still and really focus on our breathing.

Solo cinema trips. Totally focussed on something other than whatever I'm stressed about.

Jigsaws with a good podcast.

Long walks with favourite comedies on ear buds. Cabin Pressure, Clare in The Community. Such clever, silly comedy that sort of makes everything ok...if only for a bit.

I can't unwind by doing nothing. If I'm stressed I absolutely cannot just sit down and watch something. My favourite way of zoning out is to clean out a cupboard or a closet/wardrobe. I put on some music, take absolutely everything out, go through it, and then reorganise. By the time I'm done I feel a lot better.

Attending service on Sunday is a relief for me. I don't have to pay attention to anything or anyone for an hour or so.
A good cup of tea. I always keep a luxus brand for myself then needed.
Knitting to an audio book.
A walk at the beach, a trip to the swimming pools or cinema. Alone.