Does anyone know a surefire cure for stress? As we age it seems that stress sometimes just compiles up on us. I was thinking that since every one of us is different, it would be a nice thread, to find out how others deal with stress. Most of the time I just push through it and keep thinking tomorrow will be better, and sometimes it is, and other times it gets worse. I am sort of a "positive person", most of the time, and some days that doesn't even help. I also don't think there's an all-fired cure for stress either. I go to my music thread sometimes, and the music seems to help me think of other times when things were good, which seems to help sometimes to get through. Other times I work, seeing how it's always plenty to get done around here, and at times that helps. Go fishing or just take a ride around town, even petting my animals seems to help some. But since it is a killer, I think other opinions on this subject, may help some of us here.
In my mind I deal with stress well, most of the time. Sometimes it does get to me. This move out of state was very stressful but feel like I have dealt with it fairly well. Something i have not done in a while is meditate and that always helps. I do it before any real stress starts. Five minutes a day, in a quiet, dark place, and concentrate on a particular calming word, or place. I use a word. Helps me a lot, need to get back to doing that. Different things work for different people. But yes, stress can kill .
Back in my most stressful days, there were three things that would "wash" my brain clean of stress - driving a sporty car, riding a motorcycle and flying a plane. When the latter got too expensive, which happened pretty quickly on my night job income while also paying living expenses and for college. Later it was driving, riding and doing other things I found interesting (e.g. woodworking, teaching, operational research, photography, computer/database programming, etc.). The solution that worked for me was keeping focused on and looking forward to doing interesting things. I changed jobs a good number of times just to maintain that focus. The brain doesn't seem to register stress when it's occupied and having fun. Positive outcomes and a sense of accomplishment in these fun endeavors seem to strengthen resistance to stress. Edit Note: I do understand that it's difficult to engage in fun activities when you're in pain, but the "looking forward" helps.
I used to deal with stress by going home, grabbing my Glock and letting myself into the pistol club I belonged to. I was usually the only one there because it was a work day. I’d line pine cones up along the berm and spend my time bouncing them around. I like marksmanship. It requires focus, discipline and it requires your concentration to be on only what you’re doing. It always reset my mind. One more interesting tidbit. I had gotten a overweight (5’10”, 215) during my final years before retirement. When I retired, I was probably not as active, certainly didn’t change my eating habits that much but slowly, over the next couple years, the weight started falling off by itself. I lost a bit over 30 lbs.. I attribute it to two things. 1. I was finally getting a decent night’s sleep 2. The major source of stress in my life was gone. I’m now about 182-183.
I've done the same thing during my lunch break when I worked close to a range. A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks. – Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, August 19, 1785
There are a couple of different types of stress, one good and one bad - eustress and distress. Eustress is beneficial and important to our sense of satisfaction and well-being. Defined as the difference between what we have and what we want, eustress is our incentive to improve ourselves and our situations, and it turns into distress only when it is overwhelmed or unfulfilled. Eustress serves as a motivating factor. Interestingly, the difference between eustress and distress has to do with our own perceptions. Something that one person might view as a positive challenge, another might view as a negative threat. We've all probably known or heard of people who lie around all stressed out because they can't pay the rent or their mortgage, yet don't go out to look for a job or another means of paying their bills. Conversely, we may have heard of people who, even when faced with something like stage four cancer, went on to beat it rather than being defeated by it, and most of us know someone who, even when unable to beat cancer, looked to her life beyond this one, and faced death without distress.
My whole lifestyle changed when we moved here with plans didn't happen. Instead of guard donkey and organic nursery we got a new serious injury Jakes broken back' and isolation which is not good for most but especially for me who always had friends and family close by. I use music and exercise or both. If I don't work out or walk in the woods, I get to feeling bad. We also take a trip to the beach every few months which I love. Jake has been too busy to take his boat down the river last few months but that is pleasant too. We don't have to go to gun club plenty of guns going off here, Jake has a place here to practice. Gun club we belonged to closed down 15 years ago.
That brings up another facet of stress: control. Even though we might not always be able to do something about our circumstances, making the effort is a way of at least pursuing control rather than relinquishing it. Lack of control (real or perceived) can cause stress...and much worse.
Remember the longest living WW11 vet who lived to be 114? I don't think he exercised but did have a very busy social life. Lived in the home he bought in the late1949's on returning from the war.and praised by all. Social life is also good for us if its the positive kind.
Great responses from all of you and very helpful in dealing with stress in todays world. There have been many people, who died because of stress. Some were very young, to suicide or just freak accidents that left people thinking it was suicide. It's a very serious illness, and really good for everyone to talk and share different opinions on how you deal with it. I like playing music, shooting my guns, and miss motorcycle riding like the one, John West added. Thanks for all the replies, and advice from each of you. It may help someone and you never know who it was. I saw this and thought it was kind of funny.
Stress: When the mind tries to overcome the body's uncontrollable desire to choke the living $hit out of some a$$hole who richly deserves it.
Here's a link to check out. 20 habits of People who never get stressed Tired of feeling stressed? Here are the perfect tips to help you manage stress and be happier in life. Read on to learn the habits of the people who never get stressed and the things they do. One that Hedi mentioned, is in these, 20 habits not to be stressed. They meditate – meditation can be life-changing! It allows you to welcome your thoughts and worries without letting them take over. "This one is one I've had a hard time with". They do not obsess over something they can’t change – dwelling on your mistakes and failure will not fix things. It only causes stress.
I have never gotten the meditation thing. My mind just wanders all over the place so it's a waste of time for me.
I remember a very cool psychology experiment from years ago. Short and sweet version. Two randomly selected groups of students were told they want them to take a challenging test. The only issue is, it turned out some essential emergency repair work is going to be going on at the same time, making it quite noisy. One group was asked to please make do with the noise and just do the best you can. The second group had conspicuous red buttons placed on their desks. They were told if the disturbance becomes too much, just push the button, a light will flash where the workers are working, and they will take a 15 minute break. Not surprisingly, this second group performed much better on the test. The kicker is, no one pushed the button. The mere thought of being in control of the situation allowed them to free their minds from the perceived constraint.