How to Relax and Avoid Stress?

Stress is not always a bad thing. Think about it, would you know what it means to be happy, if you have never been sad?

Sometimes stress can be an indicator that one is trying to achieve a lot of goals, improve and develop. The secret is to use stress as an advantage and don't stress if it's unnecessary. Don't be afraid of emotions that you can't avoid, experiment with yourself dealing with them.

I will explain how to avoid stress by sharing the methods that work for me.

We are like nature. Think about it. Good mood - sunny, warm day, light waves at the sea, lots of laugh and ice-cream; sunny winter day with a light, refreshing breeze on your cheeks. The next day it all changes, rain and thunder comes with high speed wind, causing a lot of damage, people hide from it, and it's natural. Not even mentioning the catastrophic examples...

The changes of our mood sometimes doesn't depend on anything, did you notice how someone can be in a bad mood "out of nowhere"? Just like the weather - it can't always be predicted.

You get my point? It's natural to stress and have "ups and downs", just like weather. Every human has ups and downs, no matter what they say, if they don't agree - they are lying.

"Everything is going to be OK?" This phrase has lost its quality through the years, but it's still powerful because it gives hope and support from other people, right? Everyone can say this, even a parrot can easily say this to you not actually knowing what it means, just copying the sounds of people.

I believe that "everything IS going to be OK" IF one will consider taking the right actions at time, resulting in the support of psychological stability. I'm not talking about death or illness; I'm talking about - Love, career, money, happiness, qualities of life etc. Things that we CAN change are the only things we should worry about.

What happened an hour ago? Yesterday? A year before? We can't change. It is already done. One can only prevent negative from happening by taking actions now, tomorrow, a day or a week after. Feel happy about good things that happened. Bad things? Forget them, worry about how you can avoid them in the future.

I will share my views about stress and how I get rid of it. Stress can mean a lot of things; stress is build up of negative emotions that lower your confidence levels and even self-esteem at times. Worry doesn't make you feel good about yourself, your accomplishments, the surroundings, and basically everything annoys you when you're stressed. All the colours that are bright, actually look dark when you're stressed. You could feel sad, you could feel weak, empty, emotionless.

Obviously, the structure of our thoughts is based on experience of our lives. Most of things I write are based on my own opinions and experiences, not just theory. Stress is something we all experience, and the most effective way to lose it is simple. More easy to say than to do? Sometimes, but if it works for me, why wouldn't it work for you? If you can read this you're obviously a human, not a monkey or an elephant, that means we are all made of the same flesh, so try it.

All humans stress, especially in the past decade when the biggest problem is "I don't know what I want". When I stress, I simply find a substitute for stress, most of the time it's a physical action. It doesn't necessarily has to be exercising, which is also very effective. Getting to the point, the physical actions obviously depends on time, weather, money and all sorts of other factors that let you take certain actions.

Our body is like a castle that needs to be taken care of, if we are stressing that means maybe a side wall of our castle is falling down, getting attacked by baddies (negative emotions), these baddies are distracting the peace and stability of our castle. Hold on... You're the King of your castle, this is your castle with your own rules, defend your castle, be a good King. I will share different activities and methods that I substitute with stress, it works, really does. Believe me, when I say: You must learn to appreciate simple things.

Fire is so powerful. Did you ever try to look into it? Just try and focus on the shapes that it develops, it's beautiful. All kinds of colours and sounds it gives to your eyes and your ears, it's beautiful.

It can be destructive, it can be very dangerous, we all know it. You don't think about it when you look at a fireplace, someone sparking up a match or a lighter doesn't scare you at all. It's such a small amount of fire, BUT somewhere deep down in your subconscious you know that it is destructive and it can get scary with its power. This thought in your subconscious binds with the desire of security that we all have, this is why a fireplace got so popular at most of homes: it produces heat, a feeling of security and coziness on top. A fireplace gives more of a "home" status to a house, doesn't it?

Fire makes you relax.

I love sparking up my grill in the backyard, and out in the nature, near the lake. I try not to use any of that "fire starting liquids" or petrol (some people DO!), because it brings all the fun out. Just enjoy the whole process of starting up fire with paper and firewood.

Try and be as primitive as you can, for a change, and see if you like that. Get some firewood (without cutting down healthy trees). Paper, crumple it and place it in the centre of your "fireplace", put pieces of firewood on top of it forming "an American Indian tent", where all the foundation pieces are like rafters joined together at a small vertical angle. Does this sound complicated? I could have just posted this link instead of wasting your life for 2 minutes! Kidding, here's a link: starting fire.

You don't have to cook, you don't have to do anything once it's lit. Stare at it, feel the heat coming out of it. Notice how it slowly starts to make you feel relaxed, no matter how stressed you are. You can have a great session of philosophic thoughts with yourself, thinking about the world around your, thinking about why are you stressed, and should you be stressed at all? Spark it up, it is very effective.

Water is so powerful. Did you know that ~70% of Earth is water? Leaving us with less than 30% of land. It's beautiful, especially when it binds with other colours of the Earth. Looking for a good color match scheme? Just look outside the window, it's all there.

If you don't have an easy access to a lake, river, ocean or you're too lazy to leave your house, just run a water tap in your kitchen; it's not going to help. I'm kidding.

I'm going to do some free promotion, this project is unique and it deserves to be noticed, because it's useful: www.rainymood.com. Switch your speakers on and open this website, it doesn't offer anything, no ad pop-ups etc. All you do is open this website, listen to the sounds while you work. I think it's genius, the homepage is like a window that gives you a protective feeling from the rain and thunder outside. It has a reality taste! Check it out, the noise makes you concentrate, sharpens your thoughts. Try it out! *Use good quality headphones for better effect.

After 15-20 minutes when you switch it of you'll notice that your work was productive and your mind is very clear. It feels like success, I love success. You can substitute this with stress, without even leaving your house.

Cool your face down with water. When you're stressed at work, in a public place, etc., find a tap, put water on your face and deeply breathe in and out. Do this a few times. It's funny the way they do it in a lot of movies, it actually does work!

Go for a swim. Swimming is one of the best workouts. Make sure you swim properly! If you don't know how - get some swimming lessons or at least YouTube it. Swimming is great.

Jump into the nearest lake if the weather is good. But its winter! Not an excuse, there are swimming pools, unless you are allergic to chlorine. Take a warm bath.

I don't recommend swimming at minus degrees Celsius. Especially for men - It's actually a killer for prostate.

Take a bath. Obviously, I don't have to comment a lot on this, the main thing is to understand that our body feels good when it experiences some sort of shock. Hot, cold, adrenaline. It lifts us up, makes the stress go away, these feeling weaken the stress.

Don't get me wrong when I say shock. I'm not talking about a shark attack, or freezing/burning to death; scaring someone to death, NO. I'm talking about a natural shock, an action that we decide to take, which will lead to a shock. Example: Lying on the beach, sun is hot, body is hot. Run and jump into the cold water - shock achieved, feeling good. Need adrenaline? We all have our own ways for it. It can be a good substitute for stress as long as it's not dangerous for one's health.

Bowl of hot water. I love this treat. I appreciate it after a long day or a long walk. To be honest, I have never done this, until my girlfriend started to treat me with method of water relaxation. Get a big bowl, fill it with hot water and rest your feet in it for 15-20 minutes. Actually, keep your feet in, until the water isn't warm enough. You can add some SPA salts, light up some natural incense. That's how I do it. It feels amazing. There are many nerves in our feet, which can also tell us many things about our health. How? Going off-topic, for curious people: Reflexology.

Nature. Spending time in the green is all you need, sometimes. Plants produce oxygen, the greener they are, the less carbon monoxide you inhale along with oxygen. I suggest everyone should constantly visit the nearest forest or a national park, if available; even a field or a mountain. Further away from traffic and factories. The more natural it is, the better effect is achieved.

Camping. The whole process of setting up your tent (don't bother if you have a camper), starting up the fire, pealing and cutting the vegetables for making soup, fixing up a few sandwiches. Unpacking your camping gear. It is so relaxing and exciting. It's like moving in to the real wild for a while.

Eating in nature feels like a celebration, you probably never thought about it? Food is a lot nicer in fresh air. Did you think about it this way?

Did you ever come across some crowded public place in the city, where you didn't feel like you belong there? I believe most of people did. When you're in wild, you feel like you belong here without even thinking about it. You never think about it, because there's no reason to think about it. You feel free and wanted by some force of nature. Everything feels right. All these simple things that we can have in nature are so valuable. Stress? What's that when you're free?

We all know that plants produce oxygen. Did you ever notice how well you sleep after spending a few hours in the forest, or a very "green" area? Well, this comes in a full package of natural happiness when you understand and value these free natural experiences.

Clear your mind with the help of nature. It works, nature is beautiful. Admire it.

Exercising is probably one of the best methods of easily substituting stress. If you're physically fit for any exercise, there is no excuse why you shouldn't do it. If your excuse is - "I'm lazy, I can't make myself do anything" - you're not really going to get rid of stress until you realize that being lazy is pointless. It's even worse than being stressed. It's the cause of stress!

Join the local gym, 3-4 times a week. Don't be afraid of starting from low weights or being unfit at start. Everyone goes through it, nobody at the gym will laugh or pay attention as they would have started training at some point too, right? Every gym that I have tried had a nice community. Another option is sport. Back in college days, I have found my favorite sport of all time - fencing (sword). I loved it, that's why I achieved medals and rewards in two years. Find one that you will fall in love with, it will make you happy.

Don't like physical activities? No problem.

It doesn't have to be a hobby that requires physicals activity, the point is to share your creativity and get involved. Being around other people reduces stress, especially being around people that share the same views, like the same things. Make sure that you at least stretch in the morning, if this is the case. All you have to do is open the local newspaper, browse the Internet for local activities. There are so many: chess, games, social clubs, auto/moto fan clubs and many more.

Independent activity is always an option. I have one, for the past two years I have been producing music for my own satisfaction. Only a small bit of it is uploaded on the Internet. Here's a link to it: Link to a few of my beats.

My point is, I forget about everything while I produce music, simply just bouncing my head up and down while I really enjoy myself. Sometimes I would share it with friends, some of them like it! Success!

Your hobby can be unique, one of my friend collects sand-watches. What? Yes that's what I thought when he told me. I think it's obvious what kind of presents his friends and family get him for birthday or Christmas? He has over 140 different sand-watches! Amazing. Here's a link to some of them.

Hobbies can vary by season. Use the weather as an advantage. For example: snow, sand, muck can be one out of your many hobbies! Find something that you will enjoy. The only way you can do it is by looking for it. America didn't find itself, did it?

I suggest you to take pictures. Shoot everything that makes you happy. You don't have to have a Nikon or some other expensive brand camera. Obviously, quality is a good thing, but memories are all that matters. Take pictures and look at them when you feel stressed, it motivates. There are many photographers these days, there's a lot of theory on the Internet how to take pictures, how to use the right technique for various shots and etc. You don't have to follow it, it's not just how you take the picture, it's what's in the picture.

The bottom line of my thoughts is probably clear by now. All we have to do is DO THINGS to get rid of stress. Obviously there are situations that really can or could bring your self-esteem, confidence and optimism levels down. But it's a matter of time until you can win against these situations. Don't wait for such situations. Life can be full of joy, if you really want it to be that way. Life is full of ups and downs, if there were no downs we wouldn't know how good ups are!

Be strong and substitute stress with positive life, share it with others. Good luck!