(Last week, we asked readers this question: “What is the most effective way you have discovered of reducing stress in your life?” Here are the responses we received.)
The best advice to reduce stress was summed up by Albert Schweitzer: “There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life. Music and cats.”
JUDITH T. BURROWS
Pembroke
Being a person who deals with an inordinate amount of stress, I feel happy to share my secrets with you. The following activities help me stay on an even keel. My strategies, in no particular order, are as follows:
I like to create collages and make use of my artistic ability. Doing nice things for others is also another for-sure stress reliever. I find plenty of calmness in gardening. I created a “hope” garden this summer. My husband would probably rate this as my most time-consuming coping strategy.
I enjoy the company of a good book and read whenever time affords. There is a logging trail in the woods behind my house and Bear, Cheyenne, Scout and Riggins are my companions on this adventure. Occasionally my kittens join us. One of the kittens, Babar, could qualify as a therapy animal. Hold him and you feel any stress melt away.
My family bottle-fed him and his sister as they were orphaned and found in our woodshed. The bond that developed has been highly beneficial.
I always feel grateful for what I have. I feel fortunate in spite of the stressors.
Lastly I try to cultivate my healthy sense of humor. These are my turn-to, sure-fire ways of dealing with stress.
SUSAN DECATO
Canterbury
We are truly strangers in a strange land these days. We may on occasion feel a sensory overload that is debilitating. I find that at those moments it is wise to take a temporary time out. Yes, hit the pause button and refocus. A personal method that I find helpful is to close my eyes for a minute, if possible, and be silent. I then recite: Be still, Charlie. Listen to me. I AM – I am with you all – always. Sure, it’s okay to repeat as necessary.
CHARLIE STEPANEK
Concord
Ah, stress! It has been a fact of life for us since our ancestors left the trees and walked on two legs. Always vulnerable to predators, we evolved a highly effective sympathetic nervous system that could rapidly assess danger and prepare us for “fight or flight.” The trouble is, what was designed to help us escape lions on the Serengeti doesn’t serve us well when we’re living in a world bombarded by stressors on all sides, but with little need (or opportunity) to physically flee.
So how do I, personally, deal with stress? Not surprisingly, seeing where we came from, I’ve found that exercise is my first line of defense. And since I’m not to be trusted to do it on my own, I’ve joined an exercise group where I’ve decided participation is not optional. I don’t allow myself to debate whether I feel like going; I simply go – and feel my worries lessen when I do.
When I start to “squirrel-cage” about some issue or another which is weighing on me – and I leave it to the reader to picture what that looks like – I try several techniques. One is to step back and take a deep breath, in fact, many deep breaths. Focus on breathing is a successful method for de-escalating stress, and it works for me. It is a component of a number of evidence-based strategies, including mindfulness meditation, yoga, tai chi and diaphragmatic breathing.
I’ve also learned over time to “listen to my body.” If I feel a headache coming on, I immediately jump into rescue mode, knowing as I do that stress is one of my major headache triggers. And I try not to catastrophize, predicting that the headache will worsen and sabotage all my plans, or my efforts to live a good life. Instead, I step back and ask what my body is telling me. I either move on to a different, more relaxing activity, or since that’s often not possible, actively practice relaxing my muscles, including my jaw and shoulders.
Stress is inevitable in all of our lives. Self awareness, willingness to respect and take care of the body we’ve been given, and an effort to get back to the basics are our best defenses against it.
MILLI LaFONTAINE
Concord
I love stress. The kind where you feel the blood drain from your legs and your knees buckle as the jumpmaster dramatically swings open the overhead cargo door to a perfectly good airplane, and you peer down and see nothing between you and subtle shades of an emerald quilted patchwork of ground 10,000 feet below. And, at this point, the only way down is to jump.
Or, standing in the starting gate to your first (fill in the blank) 5K, half-marathon, ski race – whatever you chose to venture beyond your comfort zone, to allow you to feel your edges, to do something you never thought possible. The exhilaration of feeling your parachute open, or the triumph of accomplishment felt after finishing what you thought wasn’t possible, is thanks to stress. When self-inflicted, it is the antidote for boredom.
And then there’s distress, a type of stress born from circumstances beyond your control, where you feel like a daddy long-legs and the universe has you in its vise grip, slowly pulling on each leg one at a time. Too much work. Not enough work. Single parenting. Your kids’ (fill in the blank) latest break-up, grades or dirty socks on the floor – again.
The Japanese term is shinrin-yoku, or “forest bathing,” coined in the 1980s as a form of forest therapy to treat the ailments from the stress of an endless to-do list, full calendars and get-it-done-yesterday lifestyle. It is taking the time to walk, mindfully, in nature to study the single leaf of a quaking aspen twisting in the undulating rhythm of the wind. It is the intermittent splat of fat raindrops falling on a leafy overhead canopy in the thick, tropical air. The simple act of connecting with a landscape as humble as a nearby park is my prescription for emotional wellness.
Henry David Thoreau said: “We need to have the tonic of wilderness. We can never have enough nature.” When I feel the universe pulling at me in different directions, I resort to shinrin-yoku. I believe it’s safer and more therapeutic than jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.
LINDA KULIG MAGOON
Warner