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Combating Stress

Vote4cake

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How do I combat stress? Well, that reminds me what happened to me a few days ago. I was in bed and I had some like random stress or anxiety that appeared all the sudden. Was kind of unusual. As time passed, it kept raising. I just couldn't stand it so I got up from bed and went to my computer. I decided to watch a short film and listen to some music that I felt reflected the same type of emotion I was experiencing. I watched T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G (1968) by Paul Sharits and listened to multiple black metal artists. After I did that, I felt great since.
In past experiences on dealing with stress, I went outside walking around town and exploring the area around me. It was good. There's some interesting places and things out there like abandoned areas, streets you've never been to, animals, and so on forth (although to be honest, in this new town I'm living in, I don't find it anywhere near interesting as how my old town was. In other words, some towns are more interesting than others).
 
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Astute

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I used to get stressed & angry (to the point of shaking) over the stupidest of things. Then one day I woke up and realised that it was doing me no good at all and 99% of the time made the situation much worse. Just stepping back and rationalising the problem left me more able to find a solution, as I had a clear mind and stayed calm, which obviously reduced my stress.

Sure, you can go to the gym and throw a few punches, lift some weights, or listen to some sh***y spiritual music, but until you get yourself out of the habit of blowing up small problems you will just find yourself wasting your time, energy and money, without solving the real cause of your stress.

A bit of pressure in the right circumstances helps to get things done, but does it really matter if an email gets delayed for an hour or you miss a gym session? No. These are small things and getting stressed out about them requires a change of mindset.
 

Steele Concept

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all you need to know you should love yourself more than anyone else

This is so true Damian. If you love yourself and are happy where your life is, you just gotta keep doing what you are doing. When I was sad/depressed/anxious etc. I realized I was not living my life on my terms. I had a shitty job with a 'master', annoying schoolwork, shitty gf, shitty gym I was going to etc. A lot of being happy and tranquil is doing what YOU love to do. As I mentioned earlier I enjoy jiu jitsu, sex and weed. If I focus my life around what I like to do and love it... Why should I be stressed?

I dig: Verbal jiu jitsu (sales), brazilian jiu jitsu, cannabis, sex, outdoors, internet nerding, learning and creative expression etc. These things make me happy.

I don't like drama, annoying/nagging/negative people, formalized school, mathematics, mayonnaise etc. So I don't do things that don't make me happy.

Oh yeah Mead - Caffeine and Alcohol kinda suck and make people more stressed. Low caffeine or herbal teas or GABA alternatives for EToH are where it's at.
 

Steele Concept

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Mathematics? I freakin' love mathematics.

I love people like you who can do the mathematics, lol. Myself? Well I passed undergrad statistics and did well at grad level stat+psychometrics, but honestly I still don't know all of my multiplication tables hehehe. Math doesn't really make me happy and I've always had to struggle with it, which brings me back to my point.

Math may make you happy, heck so might mayonnaise (which I also despise). I think a big part of living a stress free life is doing those things you are good at/enjoy. By mastering those things we have a god given talent at and outsourcing the rest, I think we leave room for a bit more peace in our lives.

Fill your day with stuff where you flow and the stress shouldn't be much of an issue. Please take 20 minutes of your time and watch this video by eminent positive Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. We took a look at some of his work in grad school and the guy has an awesome mind and great ideas.

http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow.html
 

Vote4cake

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I love people like you who can do the mathematics, lol. Myself? Well I passed undergrad statistics and did well at grad level stat+psychometrics, but honestly I still don't know all of my multiplication tables hehehe. Math doesn't really make me happy and I've always had to struggle with it, which brings me back to my point.

Math may make you happy, heck so might mayonnaise (which I also despise). I think a big part of living a stress free life is doing those things you are good at/enjoy. By mastering those things we have a god given talent at and outsourcing the rest, I think we leave room for a bit more peace in our lives.

Fill your day with stuff where you flow and the stress shouldn't be much of an issue. Please take 20 minutes of your time and watch this video by eminent positive Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. We took a look at some of his work in grad school and the guy has an awesome mind and great ideas.

http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow.html
I pretty much know my multiplication tables. Although for some reason I always forget something like 6x8. I think it's 64... (nope got it wrong -- it's 48, see? lol). I pretty much get paid a bit to do math at this point. I do so well in some online math program that my math teacher always has to give me the 1st place reward ($50 visa gift card).

I don't like mayonnaise either. and I agree. I watched the video. I liked the flow graph at the end; pretty much simply sums it up.

Also, for n e one interested in the topic of math, check out this insert I found last year from a music compilation called World Domination In Thirteen Easy Steps (1997); one of the reasons why I like math very so:
wx5d.jpg
 

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Damian2015

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This is so true Damian. If you love yourself and are happy where your life is, you just gotta keep doing what you are doing. When I was sad/depressed/anxious etc. I realized I was not living my life on my terms. I had a shitty job with a 'master', annoying schoolwork, shitty gf, shitty gym I was going to etc. A lot of being happy and tranquil is doing what YOU love to do. As I mentioned earlier I enjoy jiu jitsu, sex and weed. If I focus my life around what I like to do and love it... .

true story, i used to look in everybody's eyes and did what i was expected to do. not just my parents but everyone..then i began feeling annoyed towards everything in life and i was anxious, nervous sad, depressed i thought i will need a shrink or i would blow my brains out, hang myself, jump from a roof just to get out...then i figured why the hell would i do that i just needed to look them in the eye and say THIS IS NOT ME, i want the real me so go impose your ideas on a monkey but i AM DONE, the moment i did that i felt free, now i have a bunch of other worries but theeey aaarreeee my choices and i LOVE THEM because they are connected to my work so enjoy life and do wht you love, OR there is always the get out by suicide
 
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Black Wolf

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Too much booze and caffiene means cortisol - the stress hormone in your body. Too much of that weakens your immune system and makes you feel generally shitty. I speak for myself when I say if I have a crap diet and my health is suffering for it, I am more likely to have negative, self-sabotaging thoughts.

Substitute booze and tea/coffee with water.

25 minutes HIIT cardio 3 times a week, get those endorphins and serotonin going on in your head.

Getting enough sleep helps a lot too. I use valerian root tablets to achieve deeper REM sleep. I feel like I get +2 hours out of whatever I've slept when I wake up.

I am doing 'dry january' this month and it feels good having clear-headed weekend where I can study javascript and get organised.
 

ddinnov

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Another vote for meditation here. I try and do headspace (headspace.co.uk they have a free 10 part course) every morning.

Don't try and achieve or learn anything or look too deeply into it. Just set and stop your mind from whizzing around for 10-15 minutes every day. Works wonders
 

Original92

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Another vote for meditation here. I try and do headspace (headspace.co.uk they have a free 10 part course) every morning.

Don't try and achieve or learn anything or look too deeply into it. Just set and stop your mind from whizzing around for 10-15 minutes every day. Works wonders

I am pretty sure you mean getsomeheadspace.com ? :)
 
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ddinnov

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Thanks for the tip, I am having trouble to maintain motivation to meditate everyday.. I think this would help!

I first saw it on a Virgin Atlantic flight as part of the in-flight entertainment for nervous flyers. It's great because it's a course and easy to stick to
 
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LibertyForMe

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Sunlounger is my favorite chill music. Glad to see there are other fans on the forum. If you haven't already, you should make a Sunlounger Pandora station, you will get a lot of similar sounding music. It is excellent.
 

mentalic

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I occasionally feel stressed and I do the following:
1. Stop drinking coffee (you don't need it when you are stressed)
2. Get a 20' nap in order to calm down
3. Try to ignore the results of the reasons for the stress (a lot of times we are stressed because we think what others might think for ourselves)
4. Going to the gym
5. Completely removing sugar from your diet
 

nncbuysmortages

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When I start feeling stressed and irritable there's a few things I do:

1. Breathe deeply. I count each breath and I envision my "happy place".
2. I do yoga or just stretch out while listening to music.
3. I put on music and sing along until all the anger and stress is gone.
4. Make sure I'm fed and well rested. If I'm not I eat and take a nap.
5. Go for a walk.
6. Read a book or write in my journal.
7. Call a friend to vent.


I do anything that will take my mind off of my stress. I find that things that get you out of your head are the best things to calm you down during stressful times.
 
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yveskleinsky

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I used to get stressed all the time. Now I really don't stress at all. I don't "do" anything to combat stress really, as like I said, I don't have much stress these days. Not because everything is going smoothly, but because I choose not to be stressed. If I start feeling stressed it is a signal that I'm attaching too much energy to a person or situation meeting my expectations. If I feel like I'm full of nervous energy I generally go to a yoga class, or the gym or call a friend or journal. Reading and embracing the teachings in "The Power of Now" really helped me to cultivate this new mindset. Tolle says many brilliant things in his book, but one of them is, "We can either accept what is, or work to change it. Stress is optional." So true. When my life fell apart about 5 years ago, I was at the lowest place I've ever been. I had a realization one day that literally the only thing I knew for sure at that moment was that I would never look back at this point in my life and wish I would have worried about things more. So I chose to accept certain parts of what was as well as worked to change what I could and then let the rest go--and went out and had some fun instead. :)
 

yveskleinsky

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...Just wanted to also add, that I've found it helpful to get out of my problems and go help someone with theirs. I used to donate blood on a fairly regular basis, because I hate needles and hate sitting still. Donating blood made me do both and made me slow down enough to be grateful that I had the problems I did and that I was on the giving end of that transfusion.
 

CommonCents

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Don't forget to focus on the core source of stress, and not just the symptoms and their treatments. Stress often comes from you doing something you shouldn't be doing, or not doing something you should be doing. You know what they are. If you don't recognize and attack the core source of your stress, you'll have it perpetually.
 

AubreyJ

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My stress reliever is probably running with my dog while listening to music. I love to run, it keeps me fit, it is time that I have to myself to think, and it gives me time to listen to music uninterrupted. Plus, my dog loves to go running, and so seeing her get so excited and happy about going outside makes me happy, and it helps make me feel so much more relaxed
 
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Wimtbimtb

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To this day I still get great joy of building display fireworks with titanium salutes..Something about making the sky glow with color and breaking glass, " Car, doors and windows" still makes me chuckle every single time.... If I really get stressed then its time to make some old cars or trucks into a mess of molten steel and make one hell of a fire-ball...
 

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