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Shake up Your Routine With These Fun Stress Busters
With work, home, family, financial, and physical health stress bombarding you every day, you need a way to unwind, recuperate, and recharge so you can face the next day with hope and optimism. If allowed to linger, daily stress becomes chronic stress, which is related to a list of mental and physical health complaints.
Stop settling for the average, boring stress busters that have become the norm in your life. To de-stress, sometimes you have to think from a fresh perspective.
Consider these six unusual ways to de-stress:
1. Get Dirty
So much of your life is centered on staying orderly, organized and structured while being prepared for whatever curveball the day throws at you. Guess what? This is extremely stressful and impossible to maintain in the long term.
Getting dirty means allowing yourself to do away with self-imposed strict schedules and routines. It is time to let loose and throw caution to the wind.
In a literal sense, this means getting dirty: find a grassy hillside to roll down, find a muddy puddle and jump until your legs are tired, throw a handful of mud in the air and watch it rain down over you, smear dirt on your face like a warrior preparing for battle.
For even more stress relief, get dirty with a friend. All the while, remember the grass stains can be treated and the mud will come out in the wash.
There is something freeing about reconnecting to the simple pleasures in the world.
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2. Break Something
Just like with getting dirty, there is something incredibly freeing about doing something you were not allowed to do as a child. When you were young, you could never get dirty, and you were assured a punishment when the lamp fell off its table and broke.
As an adult, breaking things might not be just a possibility — it might be a necessity. Breaking items in your home can provide a sense of power and control over the world around you, which is valuable because stress often arises from feelings of powerlessness.
Of course, some precautions must be exercised before you randomly break items around the house. Begin by building a stockpile of breakable items in an area of your home — this way they will be readily accessible when the time is right.
Old dishes make a great option, but bubble wrap and Styrofoam work well, too. When the stress begins to build, slip on a pair of safety glasses and wail away.
If you have the means, chopping down a tree or smashing things with a sledgehammer will promote the same effect.
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3. Get Lost
Routines help get you through the day in an efficient and effective manner. But sometimes you must break routines before they become ruts.
A great way to accomplish this is by getting lost — hop in the car and start driving. When is the last time you went somewhere for the journey rather than the destination?
See what the world has to offer. When you approach a familiar intersection, turn in an unfamiliar direction — this gives you the opportunity to experience new environments and stimulation you would not have experienced otherwise.
The new information forces your brain to process it, which breaks up the recent monotony. Your new favorite coffee shop or view of the sunset could be over the next hill or around the next bend.
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4. Scream and Shout
Returning to the theme of things you were not allowed to do as a child, practice yelling, screaming, yodeling, singing, drumming on a box, or rocking out on your guitar. As long as it is loud, it will be a good way to de-stress.
Think about times from your past where you found yourself yelling; it was probably an automatic reaction to a time of extreme stress and frustration. By yelling preventively, you can enjoy the same stress-reducing qualities without the out-of-control feeling.
The increased noise serves as a shock to your brain and can modify your functioning by dumping some adrenaline into your system and increasing your blood flow. At times, yelling and singing can be de-stressing for their ability to modify your breathing that supplies more oxygen to your bloodstream.
In this way, yelling can be similar to deep breathing exercises usually done to limit stress levels. You might want to limit your noise production to decent hours of the day to stay on good terms with your neighbors.
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5. Get Ugly
You spend so much time trying to look your best so you can feel your best, but does this translate to more stress?
Do you find yourself being too serious about the way you look? Take this opportunity to head to the mirror for an ugly face contest with yourself, and try not to laugh.
If you have some makeup around, feel free to go wild with the eyeliner and lipstick. Make yourself up to look wacky, even if it just around the house.
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6. Tempt Your Taste Buds
Food is something to be savored and enjoyed. It should be thoughtfully prepared and mindfully devoured.
Mindlessly eating poor quality food is a stress-builder as well as a missed opportunity for stress reduction. Many foods have a range of naturally de-stressing qualities built in, but the standard American diet usually consists of processed foods, full of sugar and absent of real nutrition.
Just like going new places can positively stimulate the mind, eating new, unique and exciting foods can produce the same results. To shift your thinking about food, consider cooking to be a relaxation instead of a chore.
Find peace in the food you prepare and in your methods of preparation. Find new sauces, new cuts of lean mean, and new ways to eat well-known vegetables to de-stress.
When it comes time to eat, eat slowly and thoughtfully. Rather than racing to plant yourself on the couch, savor your food to get the most out of your experience.
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