When the balance tips away from comfortable stress, it’s easy to feel as if life is getting on top of you. Try these 5 suggestions to reduce the stress levels and to shift your mind away from a worry that’s occupying too much of your thinking.
1. Go for a brisk walk
yes even if it’s raining, wear the right clothes and then walk quickly for 20 minutes. Make sure that as you walk you look around you to take in the world, and breathe deeply. The action of moving your body at pace, and a change of scenery where you are seeing the world at work and play will get your mind unstuck and lift your mood.
2. Play a game
Whether it’s solitaire, or something on your Wii or PS3 with someone else or alone, half an hour of getting into a challenging but fun game takes your mind away onto something else, freshens you up and allows you to come up with a new way of thinking. Try this link to a free game of checkers http://www.thepcmanwebsite.com/checkers.shtml
3. Volunteer
It doesn’t have to take up too much time in the week but helping a local charity, school or other group will help to take your mind away from the day to day worries and allow you the wonderful benefits of making new friends, learning new skills and opening up new opportunities. Most types of volunteering will produce positive feelings and here’s a link to a Press Association release describing some recent research http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gYbaqsrGFjRXD9olpjfCq79je5cg
4. Get creative
You don’t need to be a trained artist and it’s not about getting it ‘right’ it’s about letting go of constraints and the need to do something by a given time to some predefined standard. So try a creative art, perhaps take some photos on your mobile phone and then edit them on your PC, or get some pastels and sketch. Creative outlets without rules can free our thinking to the point where we feel more confident, happier and more able to deal with life issues. I recently bought some air drying clay and decided I would be a sculptor for the afternoon and it was great fun I made this and as you can see it’s about the journey rather than the destination!
Man thinking on nature - My first sculpture!
5. Talk to a friend
Yes this is tried and tested and the positive impact on stress of ‘offloading’ to a friend or someone close cannot be underestimated. As the saying goes, a problem shared is a problem halved. Speaking with someone about your stresses can open up a new approach you may not have seen before and you will feel supported which of course increases your confidence.
