Random Musings

Stress relieving

Week 58 / Prompt 5 - What tips and tricks do you have for managing stress that you can share with others?

I knit, and I talk with friends. Those are my biggest two stress relievers.

I learned to knit in 2010, so I've been knitting for nearly five years. I picked it up as a hobby when I was trying to come up with something to do with my hands while playing table-top games with my friends. The table-top games have a habit of sometimes focusing on one or two players at a time, leaving the others at the table outside of the combat or event for a while. I needed something to do to keep myself entertained during these breaks. Knitting was a quiet hobby I could pick up and easily do at the table. I taught myself using Youtube. Honestly. I didn't have anyone nearby that could teach me, and since I could replay the videos over and over and over, I was able to pick it up at my own speed. Turns out, I was able to figure it out pretty easily. And I'm really good at it too. I've made gloves, two sweater tops, a few hats, lots of scarves, and a pair of socks or two. I learned lace fairly early, and while it is incredibly time consuming, my lacework is gorgeous. I've tried cables, and while I'm capable of doing cables, I'm not very good at them yet. Anyway, I almost always keep a knitting project with me these days. The practice of knitting is incredibly relaxing for me. Sometimes the piece requires a lot of focus, which can be useful to take my mind off of whatever might be stressing me out. But often just working on a mindless scarf with repetitive stitches is enough to just let my mind relax and go into a zone that relieves my stress. It is almost always a sure-fire way to get my mind calmed down.

My other method is to talk with friends. I sometimes have a habit of over-thinking a problem to death. I'll work myself up going over a million scenarios, worrying over something that probably doesn't deserve to be worried about. The practice of just talking it out verbally to a person acting as a sounding board will generally help me work out the different sides of the problem and come to a conclusion, often without them even really saying much. This usually helps with all sorts of situations, including writing blocks as well. It's not always easy to have someone to talk with about everything, but it is definitely a necessity for me at times.