Stress Reducers

[thartley]

When my daughter was around three or four years old (and I was a super stressed single parent) there were days when I picked her up after work and we would do this really ridiculous thing in the car where we would count to three and then scream as loud and long as we could....which inevitably ended in fits of giggles.     Years later, she and I were driving home and my dear daughter spontaneously let out this blood-curdling scream and I nearly ran off the road, but I just as spontansously began screaming also.  I thought I had perhaps run over someone and sheer instinct dictated that the very thought of that called for a scream, at the very least.  But there Sneaker was in fits of laughter so hard she couldnt breathe.  By the time I gathered my wits and she quit laughing long enough to answer I asked her why in the world she had screamed like that and she just said she felt like it.

I think maybe it was a throwback to her younger years when we would count to three and let it rip...and had she counted to three that day, I may not have high blood pressure now!   

Are there any particular things you do to relieve the pressures of the day?

[KitKat]

lol funny story thartley.

I used to relieve the pressures of the day by taking a calming hot bubble bath,
but hot water causes dry skin, so instead I make jewelry. It's keeps my dry skin under control.  lol

I think screaming would be a great way to relieve daily pressures, but unfortunately I was brought up in a very different decade and children were taught to be seen and not heard.  

[thartley]

My little girl was such a livewire when she was younger, she was constantly in timeout for something, whether it was bringing lizards into the classroom in her pockets, walking off daycare grounds so she could play on the soccer field next door, or pulling the fire alarm to see what would happen.  Sometimes we just had to scream ourselves into laughter, but we always made sure the car windows were up.  We didnt want to alarm anyone, and plus...the acoustics were fantastic.   

Today, I bought some chamomile tea to try out.  That's a far cry from screaming. LOL!   

[Ginafish]

I worked at a place that had a walk-in refrigerator, and when things got hairy, and the customers had all left, I'd go in there and scream. It helped chill me out.

Trying to make jewelry would stress me out. Shopping for jewelry...maybe not.

[thartley]

Squeezing a chunk of play-doh is kinda stress-reducing, plus it smells like childhood.   

[Ginafish]

Oh Oh! A new aroma therapy scent! I'll let you copyright it this time, but I've got dibs on the big black magic marker scent.

[pohui]

cant really think of one particular de-stresser, it could be either throw something in a fit of anger? indulged into compulsive eating? or simply  inhale and exhale??

[KitKat]

Counting l,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 very slowly, could help! 

[thartley]

Sometimes I do what I call "square breathing".  I dont remember where I heard about it, but I inhale slowly to a count of four, then hold for a four count, exhale to a four count and hold again for four.