Stress Relievers…

On my show I’ve talked about the importance of relieving stress especially around the holidays.  If you are normal, and most homeschoolers are, you know exactly what I mean.

My guest, Sandy Fowler, from Heart Filled Holidays had some great suggestions especially for long term fixes.

But what about those moments when you are about to explode and need a few relaxation techniques to save everyone around you from witnessing your own personal, unique, meltdown?

When things are just spiraling out of control, you know, when you’re patiently waiting for that parking spot at the grocery store and someone has just turned the corner and nabbed it…or someone shoves passed you on the way to the checkout line, I’m sure you’ve noticed there are a lot of not so good citizens out there especially around holiday time, what is a Mum to do?

Sandy has a simple solution that we all forget when stress comes a-calling,

Breathe.

Yes, when our blood starts to boil and we start to hyperventilate, we forget to do the most important thing for our bodies, breathe.  Sit in your car or wherever you are and close your eyes (only do this if you’re not driving) and breathe slowly for one minute.  This will bring everything back into perspective and give you the energy to find another parking space.  Grrr…

If you really can’t calm yourself down enough to breathe slowly, Sandy says,

“Express yourself!”

Let out a hard, fast, yell in the privacy of your closed windowed home or car at the person who just rattled your chain or  gazumped you!

Making a noise like this releases adrenalin and is good for your health.  Bottling up our feelings is mega bad for us and may embarrass us in the future.  Heaven forbid we may lose our cools over a really minor infraction with someone we really weren’t that angry with in the first place, like the clerk at the post office.  Oooops!!

Laugh!

Sandy and lots of others agree with this stress buster.  However, when I’m in the depths of stress sometimes I don’t want to laugh!

Trust me, laughing is good.

I’ve just listened to my very stressed daughter, who is bogged down with finals and burdened with her future, hoot for thirty minutes with her father.  I don’t know what they were watching but it put her in a much better mood, which is good for everyone!

Daughts is naturally a laughy person, we went and played racquetball the other day and the two of us were useless, but we giggled a lot.  She decided to make the laughter, not the game, the exercise!  Go Girl!

Then there is my favorite stress reliever.

Get up and do something, Yoga, walking, housework even, or moving furniture!  I use that last one as my default stress eliminator.

It eases away those furrows in my brow.

A good, deep massage is good for calming the nerves, so they say, “they” being my husband and friends, if you can stand the rubbing, which I personally can’t.  Ask my blue eyed cowboy though, he’d happily have a massage every day…

If a faithful, furry pet resides with you in your home, stroke her or him.  We all know the benefits of getting up close and cuddly with your dog or cat.  They love it, you love it and your heart rate loves it.

Want to live longer?  Get a stroke-able pet.

If you are a list person, like me, when the list  starts to get too long and unwieldy and is just increasing your blood pressure every time you look at it,

Ditch the list!

How important is anything on it really?  Unless you have to pick up a child…but I’ve been known to forget that too.  Hey, they live to tell the tale but will you live it down more’s the question?

When you just can’t get the food right for that celebratory meal and you’re fit to be tied ready to throw it all in the bin,

Take a break and get down and dirty!

How attractive does that sound especially in the dark?

It’s the end of the day and tethers get stretched a little too far don’t they?   If you can’t get outside and have a good old roll in the mud, or rake leaves, mow or demolish buildings, which my hubby just did, I bet you could find a cupboard to clean or an oven to scrub.

Swinging an axe at a tree may be a great stress reliever, but then so is hand beating a dozen eggs!  My grandmother made all her cakes by hand, no electric mixer for her, she had a really strong arm and a light touch and lived a long life!

This is a stress reliever to beat all stress relievers!

Disappear.

When the children are demanding to be heard at once, vavoom!  Vanish!

Take an hour to pray

Walk the labyrinth,

Light a candle at church, or home.

Take a day trip,

Get away for the weekend,

Or even for the week like I did with my writing group friends.

Go on a church retreat,

Go to see a movie,

Have lunch with a friend.

And the most important thing of all on this stress evasion list is to say,

“No!”

Don’t let your automatic “Yes” become an action unless you really feel it behooves you to do something else in your already wildly busy day…practice that little word…

NO…No….No….!!

What about combining the relief?

If you have a couple of hours, say around midnight…how does this sound?

Take a warm, scented bath, lit by candles, sip a glass of wine, listen to soft music, eat a chocolate or two, dream about where you would like to go on vacation, relax, unwind, and doze…aaaahhhhh

 

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