Dealing With Stress
I am a grown adult human being, and I’ve only recently realized that I have no idea how to deal productively with stress. What I do have is an exceptional ability to get stressed out by literally anything. This usually translates into a constant feeling of being one missed email or bungled TODO away from catastrophe. This is no way to live.
What do you do to manage stress?
— Jamison ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (@jergason) August 5, 2016
Luckily, I know smart and nice people on the internet. When I asked them, they responded with great ideas.
The responses differed wildly, but fell in to a few main categories.
Go Outside
@jergason Fishing. Catch and Release, mostly.
— Aaron Frost (@js_dev) August 5, 2016
Physical Activity and Physical Health
@jergason Good sleep, no caffeine, and exercise. Rock climbing, biking and running are all forms of meditation and also get my body moving
— Sean Hess (@seanhess) August 5, 2016
@jergason boxing, MMA, martial arts. Hitting a bag as hard as you can for an hour does wonders
— Barbara Liau (@barbaraliau) August 6, 2016
Productivity
@jergason my stress came a lot from the little tasks and procrastinating on them so they turned into a giant mound
— Lin Clark (@linclark) August 5, 2016
@jergason Find small wins. Easy-to-complete chores where I can think "Sweet, I made progress! Good job, me."
— Richard Feldman (@rtfeldman) August 5, 2016
Doing the dishes, for example.
@jergason @linclark The "five-minute rule" helps me a lot. If it can be done in five minutes, do it right now. Still figuring out the rest.
— Brian Holt (@holtbt) August 5, 2016
@jergason positive action - breaking the the stressful task to smaller parts that consume my attention, and not thinking about the whole biz
— Bogosorted Maximus (@panicwhenever) August 5, 2016
Meditation and Mental Health
@jergason daily 15-20 minute meditation sessions has helped me immensely!
— Greg Harrison (@8bt_g) August 6, 2016
Several people also mentioned Headspace, which looks like a guided meditation app. Because I am a software developer, I am attracted to the shiny idea that the solution to my problems is only an app away. I’m definitely going to try this.
@jergason I write it out into a notebook that is specifically for bile and ranting. Handwriting is cathartic in a way typing isn't.
— the affable llkats (@llkats) August 5, 2016
Many of you have thought deeply about how to manage stress and have figured out ways to cope productively and healthily with it. The specifics differ from person to person (sorry Aaron, probably not going fishing 🐟), but the broad similarities are encouraging. I’m going to get better at this (famous last words), and I’m glad I have your examples to learn from.