How to Eliminate Stress

A crash-course on stress relief, this article introduces you to 13 of the most effective ways to relieve yourself of stress:


What is it? Stress is tension. When you are stressed, your body tenses up, you are less relaxed, you are more irritable, more critical, less creative, less productive, more overwhelmed, and your over-all lowered state of health. Mental, emotional and physical health.

It is the single thing that is extraordinarily simple to change, but plays all the difference in your life. Most people have a unique set of causes for stress, but from my experience living in a high-stress environment, there are certain things that I've found to be most helpful.

In no particular order, here are some of the best ways to get rid of stress:

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A desire to improve your life

1. Physical Activity
   
   - Do at least 30 minutes moderate-intensity workout or 15 minutes high-intensity
   
   - The more stressed you are, the more active you should be every day
   
   - Don't get hung up on just push-ups or just running. Switch things up.

2. Listen to some high-energy music
   
   Find out which flavor you like best:
   
   1. Metal
   2. High-energy rock (you have to look for it)
   3. Techno.
   4. Club Mixes
   5. Dance
   6. Jungle
   7. House
   8. Trance (not for everyone)

3. Listen to some relaxing sounds
   
   Variety is good, but go with what feels right:
   
   1. Slow Music
   2. White Noise
   3. Nature Sounds (ie. wind, waves, waterfalls)
   4. Constant low-decibal noise (ie. fans or engines)

4. Take up a hobby (anything you enjoy doing, hopefully constructive)

5. Have a goal to work toward
   
   · Direction in your life helps you clear up most turmoil and handle anything that
   comes your way with greater ease
   · Anything you encounter is either for or against your efforts toward that goal
   · Do more of what's helpful to achieving your goals and less of what isn't

6. Spend time with like-minded people
   
   · When you are with people who you trust, who understand you and are willing to listen, you are more likely to talk to them and open up. Talking is a natural mechanism that relieves stress. For some reason, talking about your problems makes it easier to deal with them.
   · Being in the company of friends will make you more likely to be in a good vibe with them. Social vibing is another human mechanism that causes people to feel good. Having fun and laughing always make you feel better. When you feel good, all your stresses go away.

7. Express creativity as much as possible
   
   Some examples:
   
   1. Painting
   2. Writing
   3. Designing
   4. Sculpting
   5. Dancing
   6. Problem Solving
   7. Building things
   8. Models
   9. Become a DJ (disc-jockey; high-tech musical composer)

8. Self-Improvement
   
   Develop a new skill. Learn to do something new. Find out how to do something better. Your improved value and ability, and most importantly your sense of accomplishment will make you feel good. When you feel good, your stresses seem to go away.
   
   You could also try visiting www.RarelyPublished.com for personal development and life improvement resources. Better yet, be sure to sign up for the newsletter to stay in the know with each new resource that becomes available, not to mention special features only available through the newsletter.

9. Help Others
   
   · Giving is actually a selfish thing. When you donate to someone else, you are doing it because you feel good when you do. Therefore, you give so that you would feel good. This is the only time when you will hear me say that you should be as selfish as you like.
   
   · Some of the ways you can help others: solving problems, fixing stuff, teaching, public service, become a firefighter, start a charity, organize a service group to address your community's issues and needs, cheer up lonely people, put something interesting into someone else's life, become a psychologist, tutor someone or become a mentor.

10. Do some cleaning
    
    When you're cleaning, first of all, you're improving your life quality. Next, and actually, more importantly, it is symbolic of getting your life straightened out. Your material world is a representation of what's going on in your mind. Cleaning can be a surprisingly effective stress-reliever. Try it and you'll see.

11. Start something
    
    Not only will the result of your labors give you pride, but it will be adding value to the earth as a whole, even if a small bit, its still more value than there was before you started. Just think you are the one adding value to the world. You did it. It's your accomplishment. You did it!

12. Change of Attitude
    
    · Everyone could use a positive outlook on life, one where you recognize the opportunities and make the best out of anything that doesn't go as planned. It's not living in a fantasy world. It's just making the best of what you've got. Always. It's not an activity you do for once or twice a day. It's all in how you look at life. If this is something you're interested in and want more details on, send me an email via the requests page on www.RarelyPublished.com
    
    · Don't whine or complain at all. Ever. COMPLAINING IS A GIANT CRAP MAGNET, AND CRAP DOESN'T TRAVEL AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT. CRAP TRAVELS AT THE SPEED OF CRAP, AND THAT'S REALLY REALLY SLOW!! This is just a simple change you can do to make your frame of mind work for the better. That means doing something about your problems rather than whining about them.
    
    · Remember the old saying “Coulda, shoulda, woulda...”? Well, if that's what you say, that's what you'll keep saying. Change you're frame of mind by not using those words in your vocabulary. Never regret the past. Learn from it and move forward. Replace the words “could”, “would”, and “should” (life happened to me attitude) with “can” and “will” (I control my life attitude). So next time you catch yourself using any of the three regret words, stop, and rephrase yourself with a can-do frame of mind.

13. Relax
    
    1. Un-tense your muscles (imagine all of them loosening from head to toe, one area at a time)
    
    2. Let go. There will always be more where that came from. Clinging on to something always makes you tense. Unless your life is directly at stake, attachment will probably increase your stress. This is fixed by letting go.
    
    3. Don't try to control anything but yourself
    
    4. Get help for your “Chicken-Little-OMFG-The-Sky-Is-Falling Syndrome”
    
    5. Clear your mind (just let go of everything and bring it to a blank state)
    
    6. Feel good (smile!)

Tips & Warnings

• Mix and match the techniques that work best for you
• Use variety in which methods you use.
• Take the ones that work best for you and infuse them into your regular lifestyle so that your stress levels never get high enough to be a problem. This way you prevent the problem before it happens, and that means you feel damn good.

Resources

• RarelyPublished.com - Personal Development & Life Improvement Portal
• Memory Improvement

[RhiannonAidan]

on 11/15/2007 And I Quote: "CRAP TRAVELS AT THE SPEED OF CRAP" Lol! So true! Seriously though, excellent tips. May I add that one of my favorite ways to burn off stress is to take a brisk walk, looking at the sights around me and refusing to think about what's irritating me until I get a fresh perspective.

[annab]

on 8/13/2007 Meditation at the end of the day REALLY helps! OMG does it. trance / house / Tiesto makes me just wana dance.

[Olorin]

on 8/12/2007 Great sensible advise here. Thanks!

I personally don't think advising religion as a remedy or reliable stress outlet as it's definately not practical. I know this through experience just so you know I'm bashing the 'big G' or talking outta my arse!

[bmi57]

on 8/11/2007 Stress kills. What a wonderful article. Thank you for shareing.

[caxbecca]

on 8/11/2007 This was really good. I like to also meditate or do yoga. Both are really relaxing. My cousin does Tai Chi which I am starting to get into and it takes concentration so your mind gets focused on the Tai Chi instead of what is stressing you. Also, deep breathing.

Really though, I love the article, I will try some of the things! Thank you.