How do you deal with stress?

[Like Ra]

@madjack mentioned "dealing with stress", and I think it deserves a separate thread.

[Like Ra]

Let me begin with a short list of what I do (a long explanation I promised to post long time ago is in my long todo list I haven't looked at for so long 😁 )

5 years ago I started with qigong, then added yoga, then switched to spontaneous movements and meditations. 3 times a day. That's the only thing that helped with family issues, health problems and general overload and stress (e.g. working 60-80 hours a week).

[Tinker D]

For me?
A few hours with a 500 pound anvil and sledgehammer.
Or, if I can get away with, a few hundred rounds of BMG at a rifle range.

[vanessa_fetish]

Building and also playing guitars (and bass). And I've turned that from hobby to business as well, making and selling hand made guitars and some rebuilds (partscasters). I suffer from anxiety, depression and PTSD (or as our military calls it Operational Stress Injury) so even turning it into a business has helped me. It keeps me busy and I find it relaxing.

[essanym]

I like to meditate anyway so if I'm stressed, I just meditate longer.  Sometimes the meditation is just me sitting with my eyes closed and my legs crossed, other times latex is involved in various capacities.

[Like Ra]

Has anybody tried the so called spontaneous movements? In short, you should relax (yeah, I know), think of nothing (yeah, I know), listen yo your body (yeah, I know) and you body will begin to move. It begins with very subtle movements, or even very subtle desires to move parts of your body. Then, with some experience, the movements become more "distinctive". I've been doing this for almost 5 years with very interesting (positive so far, I should say) results. But this technique does require discipline. You either follow it, or not.

[madjack]

My approach to dealing with stress has a number of elements:

Excercise: I started running seriously when I recognised that I was suffering from stress (99% work related - the usual loooong hours and constant pressure to deliver/fix/respond). The discipline of making time to run helped me break up the working day (although I often ran instead of eating lunch) and the physical demands of running hard (not 'jogging'  😋 ) meant I was incapable of even thinking about work!  😁 

This worked quite well, but only gave me a temporary break from the daily grind - the downside was that if I was injured then I couldn't run and I got stressed about that! 

Meditation: I didn't use any formal technique, but found a quiet spot and simply 'tuned out' of the world around me and allowed to myself to drift in a happty/safe place. 

This was useful when I couldn't run, but the challenge was always clearing my mind enough to be able to 'tune out' - when I was in a bad place I found it almost impossible to clear away the stressful thoughts. Also I could only do this when working from home, it was never possible to use when in offices or driving to/from meetings.

Fetish fun: Duh! An obvious one, but a great 'escape' from the daily grind. For those brief hours when I was wearing my favourite fetish clothes (and maybe some ropes) I was never thinking about work or other stressful things and my mind was able to reset itself very nicely.

Ther challenge with this method was always finding the 'home-alone' time necessary to really enjoy it, meaning it was a very rare event and one I could only rarely use.


In the end I decided enough was enough and took one of the biggest step's of them all, quitting my job and removing the largest single cause of stress in my life. I recognise that I am incredibly lucky to be able to walk away from paid work (the only benefit of suffering stress for all those years was the money it generated) and that this isn't an option available to many people.

So far (it's very early days) I'm feeling much better and my perceived stress levels have dropped significantly - I'm still recovering and suspect it will take months, if not years, for me to clear away the debris in my mind caused by decades of being stressed, and I continue to suffer from occasional 'relapses', but I'm feeling very positive and for the first time in years am looking to the future with a excitement and happiness, not worry and fear!

MJ

[Like Ra]

quitting my job

WHOA!!!!

the only benefit of suffering stress for all those years was the money it generated

That explains the stress level.

But still: "WHOA!"

[Tinker D]

So you retired.

[madjack]

So you retired.

You might be correct to call it that and certainly I don't HAVE to look for another job, at least not  straight away - however I'm many, many years too young to be 'at retirement age' in the UK and, had things been different (e.g. less stress), I would still be working (and enjoying it). 

As I said, I was lucky enough to be in position where I could chose to quit/retire/leave, I have walked away from a good wage (and a better pension) and I know that some people do not have that luxury - which is some compensation for the long hours, sleepless nights and poor health I've put myself through over the years. 


I do wonder if I'd have been happier in a lower paid, less stressful, job, but the honest truth is that I picked my path and no-one forced me to do what I did, so it was all my fault/my hard work/my choice. And again, I know I have been very lucky to be able to do even that! 

MJ