LifeStyle

I can’t hide the fact that yesterday’s blog post was made at a pretty “stressful” moment. I want to share a lot of the frustrations some one trying to escape the Rat Race has. I hope that by expressing these thoughts with people, some of you may be able to relate what I am going through, and if you are going through the same kind of things as well, perhaps it will you to not feel as “isolated”. So anyway, I had a bad day yesterday, and I stand by everything I said in that post, but today, I am a lot more relaxed, calm and less stressed. I did three simple things in the last 12-14 hours or so to help with that, so I thought I would share 3 easy ways to beat stress. This isn’t rocket science, may come across as a little patronising, but I think it’s often very easy to miss the basics some times.

Before I start, I want to list the top 5 things that help me relax:

1. An Aikido session. In the right environment, with the right people and instructor, I find this to be almost meditative. Oddly I find a lot of martial arts to be great stress busters, I find a lot of peace in the chaos of a physical confrontation in the right circumstances. It’s a great release when done right.

2. Floatarium. This is an amazing treatment which can be found at some treatment spas with a little research online. I have only ever done it once on the recommendation of my father and I have to say, that an hour in a floatarium relaxed me to a new level of laid back! Basically it is like a giant bath with a closing roof. It’s like some kind of space age pod, and in it is shallow water full or specific salts. These salts allow to float very easily in shallow water (much like in the Red Sea). This is coupled with relaxing music and lighting, it is entirely your choice whether you close the lid on your pod or not, I have done both and recommend giving it a try, even if you are not a fan of confined spaces!

3. Holidays. It is still the only time of year when I really wind down, relax and let all of my worries go. For 7, 10, or 14 days; when I am in a foreign country I love relaxing by a pool, in a pool, eating good food and hanging with friends and family. It really helps me un-wind.

4. Lying down, releaxing or playing sport at the the beach (even British beaches). I don’t know what it is about the British coastline that does this to me, but I find it very peaceful and relaxing.

5. Driving on quiet city and country roads and streets. I always stay within the speed limits, but it’s great how a journey (especially when there is no destination) “flows” when there is no traffic on the roads. For practical reasons though, it is best done late at night or early in the morning.

So why have I listed my favorite ways to relax and de-stress? Well, I wanted you to know that the following three tips are not my prefered methods of getting rid of stress, but they are the most practical and simplest. You see everything in the above list was not available to me last night as an option, and I suspect those options are not available on a daily basis for a lot of us reading this blog! So with none of the above being an option, I had to resort to some basics, which really helped me come to work in a better frame of mind.

Here is the three step plan to banishing the blues and stress from a crap day:

1. Go to bed early.

2. Wake up early.

3. Have a good, healthy breakfast and take a minute to gather your thoughts before hitting the commute.

I can’t explain why this works, I just know when it comes to it, and I am having a rotten time of it, this simple routine is a great way to relieve stress and anxiety, and it is a 3-step plan I have been employing regularly lately!

Not my most “dynamite” of posts, but perhaps helpful to some one out there. Has anyone got any good stress-busting techniques? If so, drop a line in the comment section below and share your tips, ideas and techniques with everyone.

Take it easy.