Dealing with stress in an appropriate way is a big part of grown-upping. Before, you could just whine or cry and your parents would do their best to fix your problem. Now, it’s time to man-up and handle things yourself.
Everyone deals with stress differently and you can’t figure out how you best deal with it overnight.
It’s okay to try different methods of stress-relieving until you find the best one. It took me until college to fully understand what made me the most relaxed.
How I deal with stress is by going for a drive. Getting my drivers license when I turned sixteen was the happiest day of my life because it meant the freedom to go wherever I wanted. I still love that freedom. I enjoy being alone in my car and singing to uplifting Top 40 songs on the radio about drinkin-yo-drank and gettin-low-in-da-club. If I’m ever feeling restless or irritated, I now know that a nice drive will help me feel better. There is something liberating about going for a drive and not knowing where you’re going but just trusting that you’ll go where you need to go. (just remember to bring a GPS so you can find your way back home.)
In college, my friends obviously had different ways of dealing with the stress. Here are some other ways to cope with stress, that I learned from them:
- Read a book
- Take a hot bath
- Watch one episode of your favorite TV show
- Watch one of your favorite movies
- Take a deep breath (innnnn and outttt)
- Go for a jog (no, seriously. After exercising you’ll feel better)
- Talk it out with a friend
- Play with a puppy or kitten
- Drink some hot tea or coffee
- Color a picture
Debbie Gillum Wakefield 